Trashy Times: Where Do Recycled Gadgets Really Go? | WebEcoist | Weird, Strange Amazing I'm going to think of these photos the next time I see one of those electronic recycling drives.
As a QA Engineer for a major aerospace company, we receive training in spotting bogus computer chips. One aspect of this off-shore recycling is the removal and re-marking of chips which are smuggled into the US supply chain. Many chips used in aerospace require testing and hardening beyond otherwise similar devices in commecial systems. There have been cases where recycled commercial chips (re-marked) have found their way into man-critical systems. Not only do they not meet the requirements, many were in use for years and were not handled in a static-controlled environment (note the pictures in the article of piles of chips on the floor). I can't blame these people for trying to improve their standard of living, but in my line of work we have to be very careful.
I wasn't really thinking of the "counterfeit" chip angle, but now that you mention it, I bet a lot of this stuff ends up back in consumer electronics since the e-waste gets shipped from North America over to China, "recycled" using various non-OSHA* approved methods and then reincorporated into the crap that gets shipped back to Walmart and Target that we can buy for cheap. * OSHA stands for Occupational Safety and Health Administration - it is the organization that makes sure that US factories and workplaces aren't death traps.
I recall we've covered this before. Eg: we really are not "green" at all, we've just learned to shove our crap onto developing nations to deal with
I have donated working computers and other devices to Goodwill so they go to someone who might need them rather than throw them in the landfill. But for work, I used to take old non-working monitors and other equipment to an e-waste recycler. We had to pay by the pound to dispose of the stuff, and it cost about $150 to take a pickup load for disposal. A 20 inch Sony Trinitron monitor weighs about 70 pounds. They did some recycling on site, but I think in some cases, they were just breaking stuff down into smaller pieces for shipment.
Yes, I ran into this article and this old thread http://priuschat.com/forums/environmental-discussion/58951-sulfur-hexafluoride.html today while searching for something else. We think that electronics are cheap, but we aren't paying the full price for them anymore - we are pushing the environmental cost over to other places.
Here is a different related article: Object Graveyards: The Afterlife of Everyday Things | WebEcoist | Weird, Strange Amazing I always think its funny that some people are worried about Prius batteries in the landfill, but not concerned about cell phone and laptop batteries in the landfill.
If consumers stopped believing that they needed a new cell phone or a new computer like the manufacturers tell us then those mountains would be only half the size. I use a Nokia 6310 because it gets a good signal, last two weeks on one charge, fits in my pocket and does all the things I want a phone to do, ie make phone calls. The only downside to it is that I get laughed at when I use it and I can live with that.
In the US, most of the lower model cell phones are "free" when you sign up for a 2 year contract with the carrier. If you cancel the contract before the 2 years are up, then you pay a cancellation fee of ~ $150 -175 (which is essentially the cost of the phone). They don't usually want the phone back since the models seem to change almost weekly. If your phone doesn't last for the 2 years, some carriers will allow you to get another phone as long as you sign up for another 2 years of service. Its a perpetual cycle that generates mountains of obsolete cell phones. I don't like monthly payments and I don't use my cell phone enough to justify a contract, so I have a prepaid cell where I buy $100 of minutes a year which is way more than I use. The downside is that the phone is not that great, but it works well enough for me and I save hundreds of dollars compared to having a contract.
Well certainly in the UK, if you tell them "no phone" your contract is a lot cheaper than it is with the crapiest free one. You sometimes have to fight for it though, they do seem to like you to believe the phone is free but you don't need a mega brain to work out that it can't be no matter what they say.
It's not "reuse" if we ship our outdated electronics to a developing nation so women and children can dunk them in toxic solvents to extract the gold and other Rare Earth Metals
Well, in an unintentional way it is when the lead comes back to us in the paint used for childrens' toys. :madgrin:
