August 13, 2008 - Recently I attended a few IT Trade Shows and you can tell there is real movement towards cleaning up the Electronics Industry as a whole. Having said that, the environmental challenges remain huge. The big question seems to be what can we do about Electronic Waste ( aka E-Waste ).  I spent a good part of my time looking for blockbuster changes in the Industry but came up disappointed.

To start with let’s look realistically at the main environmental concerns in the IT Industry:

• Virtually all technical equipment is manufactured using a variety of noxious and poisonous substances ( such as powders, metals, other solids )
• Many Third World nations ( click here for details ) that accept this waste do not protect those who extract the meager amounts of precious metals embedded in, for example, a computer’s motherboard ; while removing these small metal strips adults and children alike expose themselves to harmful powders and other substances
• Overwhelming quantities of waste produced are every year
• Technical Equipment is often thrown away within 1 to 2 years of purchase
• There is no economic incentive to drastically change the production of toxic technical devices
• New, sexy equipment such as LCD Flat-Screen Monitors contain Mercury and the screens themselves cannot be recycled

I was hopeful that some company, somewhere, would have addressed the obvious problem associated with the use of several toxins in the production of cell phone, computers, etc.  I could not find one example of this type of change. 

What is changing for the good?  Most of it has to do with reduction in energy consumption and reduction in the amount of waste produced.  Let’s look at each of these in a little more detail …

• Reduced energy consumption: There are now various products out there that will use, for example, 44% less energy ( click here for details on one such product ).  This is valuable and important but it does not address what is being put into the earth at an alarming rate.
• Reduced waste production: Instead of buying your own Server the IT Sector is promoting the idea of buying ‘space’ on a very large server and connecting to it via the Internet.  The notion is that through “Server Virtualization” as it is termed, instead of having, for example, 20 servers to put in the dumpster in 5 years we will have to throw out only 1 server.  This is an excellent way to address the issue and it will benefit us.  Again, it does nothing to reduce waste production from Cel Phones, Printers, etc and is limited to consumers of Servers.

I am certainly not an expert in this field but I did want to provide my analysis of where the IT Industry is headed.  Philosophically, the IT Industry is driven by constant change and that means refreshing Technical Equipment such as Computers and Cel Phones often.  Without new products such as Cel Phones that take pictures, play music, etc. major Technology Firms would not be able to sustain growth.  So the economics of the IT Industry seem to require that you get a new ( fill in the blank ) every few years. 

At Computer Geeks On Call we go against the grain. We try to guide our customers towards repairing and upgrading computers that are only a few years old rather than simply throwing them out. It makes sense for the environment and it saves our customers money. Of course, we do not have an incentive to sell new products continuously as we specialize in providing service. When required we often recommend the purchase of a Refurbished Computer for a few reasons that have nothing to do with the environment: 1) It costs less 2) No need to learn a new operating system ( Windows VISTA ) 3) It meets the needs of the vast majority of our customers. Many people are shocked to learn that they do not need to buy a new computer to "keep up". Of course, using a Refurbished Computer for as long as possible is an excellent way to help the environment.

Additionally, we often recommend that users not upgrade software ( which often means getting a faster computer ) because most of the time there is no real benefit in doing so. I know this sounds weird - but it is true. I do have a customer who keeps her equipment connected to Windows 98 computers because upgrading would means several thousands of dollars. When she asked my advice on whether or not she should upgrade I could not come up with a reason and neither could she. In fact, when her Windows 98 computers finally die I will recommend she acquire replacements ( still with Windows 98 ) instead of upgrades.

These and other recommendations may help the environment, but I am frustrated at how little impact it has. Like most Industry Sectors large corporations make the rule of the game. I cannot make the big changes that would have a major impact.

How can the IT Sector protect out Environment?

• Acknowledge that there is a major problem ( even trying to find the statistics on this topic is very difficult on most search engines )
• Stop manufacturing Technical Devices with noxious substances
• Extract all noxious materials from their obsolete Technical Devices voluntarily or via government funding
• Make equipment that is expandable and therefore has a longer life

Here are some quick facts illustrating why these lofty goals really need to be met :

• E-Waste is the fastest growing category of municipal solid waste
• An estimated 3 Million Tonnes of E-Waste was generated in the USA in 2003 alone
• An estimated 130 Million Cel Phones have been retried in the USA ( as of 2003 )
• Tonnes of harmful chemicals ( Mercury, Cadmium, Dioxins, etc ) leach into the Earth via dump sites each year

For more details I recommend you go to www.etoxics.org for a comprehensive analysis of the E-Waste Crisis.  Also, speak to your local Landfill Site to determine how to dispose of your E-Waste.  You might also want to ask what exactly the recycling policy is in your community.

Please provide me your feedback, good or bad, at wecare@computergeeksoncall.ca.  

Gabe Belanger BSc., MCSE

Here is a picture ( at left ) of the cleanup that we did around our home for Earth Day 2006. We focused on a gully by our home that was full of garbage. By the end of the day the gully was almost entirely cleared of garbage.

Computer Geeks On Call is committed to our environment and we always want to do our part in keeping the earth green. According to Environment Canada computers contain toxic materials such as lead which is hazardous when dumped in with landfill. This can cause contamination of water and soil. When incinerated toxic and carcinogenic fumes are the result. This concerned everyone at our company. We wanted to help prevent these types of problems so we started a computer recycling program at Computer Geeks On Call free of charge for our clients. When our customers no longer wanted their old computers we removed parts for reuse, the remaining parts of the computer are then brought to a recycling centre. Here, materials such as silver, copper, aluminum and other ferrous metals are recycled. The computers are then disposed of safely.
At Computer Geeks on Call we do our part to ensure that all of our client’s computers are reused, recycled and disposed of safely. Since 2001 we have recycled hundreds of computers and kept them out of our landfills.