What happens to your discarded old computer?

Remember how good it felt the last time you hauled your
clunky, old computer and monitor out to the curb and went
back inside to turn on your shiny, new PC? Well as it turns
out, that quick trip to the trash wasn't the best idea you
ever had.

A growing number of advocacy groups are working to educate
the public on what happens to their discarded, old computers
and why they may want to take more precautions when disposing
them. What many of us don't realize is that our electronics
and other household electrical gadgets are potential Molotov
cocktails, filled with unsavory heavy metals and toxic
chemicals.

Before we talk about the dangers, let's first examine how
ubiquitous these types of products have become in the U.S.
and around the world. Americans own billions of electronic
products, including 200 million computers.



With high technology turnover and obsolescence rates, in the
next five years, about a billion computers around the world
will be discarded [source: Ladou]. And how quickly are we
discarding computers in the U.S.? The Environmental
Protection Agency ­estimates 20 million computers were thrown
out in 1998. By 2005, that number had more than doubled, with
estimates at 130,000 computers being discarded daily. In
addition to computers, Americans toss out millions of cell
phones and TVs each year. On the other side of the pond,
Europeans discard about 6.5 million tons of household
electronic items each year.

The technical term for all this high-tech garbage is e-waste.
It refers to products like TVs and computers (including
keyboards, monitors, ­mouses, printers, scanners and other
accessories). E-waste also includes cell phones, DVD players,
video cameras and answering machines. The term refers to any
products that use electricity, like refrigerators, toasters,
lamps, toys, power drills, and pacemakers. For simplicity's
sake, this article will refer to all of these devices as
electronics. For a more in-depth look at e-waste and what it
involves, read How E-waste Works.

Dangers of Old Computers

So where do these electronic relics go to retire? Between
2003 and 2005, as much as 85 percent of the disposed
electronics in the U.S. went straight in the trash and headed
directly to local landfills or incinerators. Worldwide, as
much as 50 million tons of old electronics are discarded
annually.

Some of you may be thinking, "So what? All my other garbage
goes to the landfill, why not my old computer?" But let's
think back to what we touched on briefly on the previous page
-- the potentially lethal chemical combination that could
seriously harm the environment if not properly handled.

The dangers of discarded, old computers stem from what's
inside them. Your typical piece of electronic equipment --
especially one like a PC with many circuit boards -- may
contain up to 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) of lead, along with
lower levels of mercury, arsenic, cadmium, beryllium and
other toxic chemicals. These elements are all toxic at
varying exposure levels. There is also a fairly poisonous
family of flame-retardant chemicals used in most electronics.
Find out how lead affects the body by reading Why do CRTs
contain lead?

Many of the aforementioned hazardous chemicals and toxic
substances are known to cause health problems -- and in some
cases death -- when exposure occurs in large doses. Less is
known about the dangers of exposure in small doses over
a long period of time, like elevated levels of toxic
chemicals in the water supply or inhalation of chemicals by
factory workers. It's safe to assume the effects aren't
good.

As you may imagine, landfills are a particularly harsh hotbed
for pollutants. In the U.S., e-waste accounts for
approximately 4 percent of the total amount of trash, but it
contributes about 40 percent of the lead content in
landfills. Of the other heavy metals in landfills, e-waste
accounts for about 70 percent of that pollution. While most
landfills are strategically located in an attempt to contain
potential soil and water contamination, having this much
hazardous waste on the ground may be cause for concern.

There is an even darker side as to what might await your
discarded, old PC. In the U.S., even if you made
a well-intentioned effort to properly recycle your computer,
there's a 50 to 80 percent chance that your computer didn't
end up where you thought it would.­ Continue
to the next page to learn more about your ex-computer's
potential world tour.

Recycling Old Computers

Recycling old computers can be accomplished when people
follow proper, valid channels. When the recycling trend is on
the upswing, the market inevitably starts to respond.
Manufacturers are taking back some old electronics from
customers and recycling or refurbishing them. In certain
instances, companies are improving their products so they
contain fewer toxins to begin with. Some companies are doing
this voluntarily; others are being forced by government
regulations. Legitimate e-waste recycling centers with
on-site facilities are also springing up in various cities.

But the sad reality is that for years -- and even to this
day -- many so-called recycling operations are simply
collection points. Collected electronic devices and parts are
sold to scrap brokers, who ship this cargo to developing
nations for deconstruction.

So why bother transporting e-waste? Why not recycle it right
where it is? Like many aspects of the global economy, the
cost of shipping e-waste is more than made up for by the
cheap labor available at its destination. Recycling
electronics in developing nations (including China, India,
Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast)­ is achieved at
a fraction of what it would cost in developed countries. Part
of the savings also stems from the fact that occupational and
environmental laws tend to be weaker in those regions.

Once the e-waste arrives in these economically challenged
regions, laborers earn their incomes by recycling these old
computers, TVs and cell phones for their core components. And
the process is ugly.

In some communities, the young, the old and everyone in
between dismantle e-waste every day. Laborers smash and
unhinge devices, spraying toxic shrapnel all over the ground,
where people with no shoes walk. Then workers employ
a variety of methods to track down and remove the metals from
objects like circuit boards, semiconductors and wires.

Fire can burn away the flame-retardant cocoons that cradle
copper wiring, releasing soot and smoke into the air. Fire
also melts the metal off circuit boards and other electronic
organs. This allows workers to harvest gold, lead, copper and
other materials from the burned plastic husks.

Another method is an acid bath. Soaking the circuit boards in
powerful solutions of nitric and hydrochloric acids (highly
corrosive to human tissue in strong concentrations) can free
the metals from their etched electronic pathways. This
process is often done by hand. After that, the recovered
resources are sold and re-enter the manufacturing cycle.

The acid, hazardous waste and worthless byproducts are often
burned or find their way into local water sources, often by
outright dumping. Tests performed on the air and soil that
surrounds large recycling operations show a high level of
pollution. Researchers are studying how this e-waste
recycling affects the local populations. Preliminary reports
are expected to show negative results.

Now you have a better idea of the sad journey your computer
may have taken after it left the warmth and security of your
home office. Continue to the next page for great links about
how you can properly dispose of your next outdated, broken
computer.