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Can We Do the Same Stuff but Without the Toxic Waste?
12/2/2004
Here's a more real concern: A study recently found that 100 percent of every tested computer (we're talking the keyboards here, which we touch constantly) found the existence of brominated flame retardants. This category of chemical is a neurotoxin and it is also bioaccumulative, meaning that multiple low-level exposures add up over time and the chemical builds up in a living body. No one is sure how much exposure is safe. The good news is that manufacturers are taking a look now at ways to meet fire hazard standards without using such toxic chemicals.
There's no doubt a lot more of this kind of issue where this one came from. Time will tell.
End of Life
A computer monitor might contain up to 8 pounds of lead, which we all know is a toxin. Managing to get that lead out of the computer without it ending up in a landfill seems pretty urgent--and not an easy task. Environmental scientists generally call the kinds of issues involved in disposing of a computer "end-of-life" issues. And a lot more chemicals than just lead are involved.
Most people, when they think of keeping a computer out of the landfill, think of methods like recycling (by which they usually mean re-using)--where they donate or sell the equipment to others who can extend its useful life. And there are more and more attempts at finding effective ways to "mine" disposed computers to pull out and create quantities of the toxic substances so they can be used again in other manufacturing processes (think "green chemistry").
At least we, as consumers of IT products, can directly feel some responsibility for end-of-life toxin issues and can address them (or not) as we choose. A much larger issue, and not one that we as consumers of computers can have a direct impact on, is the issue of "materials and manufacturing" of IT equipment. It's far harder to make an impact on the manufacturing of a product and we can only hope that the costs of cleanup, at the end of a product's lifecycle, eventually ends up being put on the manufacturers and users, so there is real pressure to introduce more efficient design at the front end.
Luckily, one of the ways that our problem with IT products is worse actually makes for faster change. The turnover of computer products is much faster than those of many other manufactured goods. This means that with a computer having an active life of, say, 4-5 years, it's ready for the dump at the end of that time. Whereas an automobile or a refrigerator might stay in use for quite a bit longer.
Well. We don't have to think dark depressing thoughts about the wasteful manufacturing, shipping, and disposal of the IT products that make our professional lives what they are. But it definitely won't hurt us in the long run to be aware that there are such related issues.
And no one would disagree that we can do a better job at the part we can directly impact--end-of-life disposal. I don't know where the laptop and its components on which I am typing this is going to be in 20 years and I bet that's true for you, too. Shouldn't we at least begin to take some responsibility for disposal?
About the author: Terry Calhoun is Director of Communications and Publications for the Society
for College and University Planning (SCUP). You can contact him through CT's IT Trends forum by clicking here. View more articles by Terry Calhoun.
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