Keeping them away from landfills makes for a healthier environment
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
EVELYN SHIH
If you're like most Americans, your closet is a gadget graveyard. Rest in peace, iPod mini. Goodbye, cathode ray TV set and Core Duo computer. Hello, iPod touch, HD flat-screen and Core 2 Duo processors! Consumer electronics provided just about the only reliably healthy sales revenue for retailers in a disappointing holiday season — and we're all fiddling with our shiny new toys.
[Image courtesy of ucdavis.edu]
Santa has done his work, and now all your old technology is shelved, like the Velveteen Rabbit, unanimated and already forgotten.
But our old gizmos may come back to haunt our dreams. Although discarded electronics — or, e-waste, as it's called — comprises a minuscule percentage of total waste, it is responsible for 70 percent of the toxic waste in landfills nationwide. Among the harmful chemicals released by common electronic products are mercury, lead and arsenic, which could poison water supplies.
But like the plucky stuffed rabbit of Christmas legend, last year's gizmos can have a wonderful second life. Among your choices: You can donate them to a new, happy home; repurpose them to play new roles in your electronic life; and as a last resort, take them to their final destination at an e-waste recycling facility.
"We can help you turn [a laptop or desktop] into a musical jukebox or a photo slideshow station," said Ryan Duca, a spokesman for Geek Squad, Best Buy's service and repair arm. The process simply involves deleting all extraneous applications from the computer and optimizing the settings for the chosen function.
Geek Squad also offers a service for computer owners in which all the important files are saved, then thoroughly cleansed from the hard drive before they are donated or discarded. Similar services are increasingly in demand for cellphones and some MP3 players, Duca added.
Many schools and non-profits have a need for second-hand tech items, especially computers. If you plan to donate them, it's wise to do some research first and figure out which charities are seeking the items you own. Most charities will ask donors to fill out basic information in an online form then wait for a call or an e-mail about the logistics of the drop-off.
Can be challenging
Sound complicated? Unfortunately, doing right by your aging technology often seems much more of a hassle than just letting it sit in the closet to gather dust. The older the technology, the less use you can get out of it, and the less likely you can barter it on Craigslist — even charities will turn away extremely outdated gadgets.
At that point, the only option is recycling, which can be complicated. The Bergen County Utilities Authority is open only on weekday mornings and takes e-waste by appointment. It also has four public collection events a year, the next one being April 19 in Paramus.
In the meantime, a more convenient option may be to take your items to your local Staples or Office Depot. At Staples, small items such as cellphones, PDAs, pagers, digital cameras, chargers and reusable batteries can be recycled for free, but the stores charge $10 to send large items such as computers to a happier place. At Office Depot, you are required to buy "Tech Recycling Boxes" ($5 to $15) for your old technology.
If you're looking at the pile of dusty gadgets in your closet and wincing, there are new options available.
SecondRotation.com, for example, is trying to make recycling easier for the average consumer, according to Morris County native Dylan Hunter, marketing officer for the Web site. The company pays a fixed price for specific models of gadgets and foots the bill for shipping to its plant in Massachusetts. This virtual pawn shop service puts a check in the mail as soon as it can verify the quality of the sold gadget.
"If you don't know or care about the environment, about what happens to the devices, I can give you a good cash offer," said Hunter.
For older devices, there usually isn't much of a payoff, he added. Second Rotation takes in about half its items for resale and half for recycling — and the latter is where a lot of the unwanted costs come in.
It's expensive to remove or responsibly dispose of the harmful chemicals, especially in large, clunky technology of old. Cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, used for computers and television sets, may be the most difficult to deal with: A television set holds at least 2 to 3 pounds of difficult-to-extract lead mixed in with the glass. Lead is also a popular solder. And in any circuit board, especially in older technology, there is a high likelihood of finding poisonous flame-retardant cocktails of toxic chemicals.
Irresponsible recyclers
And not all recycling plants are responsible, said Hunter. Unscrupulous e-waste recycling companies may ship the collected machines off to cheaper processing sites in India or China, where the materials will be burned or acid-washed next to local rivers.
"Eleven out of twelve potential recycling partners I've spoken to don't understand," he said. Second Rotation takes shipments of unusable gadgets from customers for recycling, but so far these items have been waiting in the company's storage space. "[The potential recycling partners] look at me like I have 12 heads. ... They're like, 'Why do you care what we do with it? You get to say you recycle.' "
But it's not all bad news.
Flat screens for television sets and computer monitors are becoming ubiquitous, and they're better for the environment because they're not CRTs. In addition, companies such as Apple, Dell and Toshiba are starting to design their products with more recycled plastic and less potential toxic waste.
E-mail: shih@northjersey.com
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