North Americans live in a vacuum. We have been sheltered for the most part from the poverty, despair and anguish of those in other countries. This vacuum of exposure leaves us in a predicament. We do have a conscience as individuals, and want to help those less fortunate. But in attempting to alleviate social and economic problems by donating our cast off technology, we actually lift the responsibility of these perplexing problems from the shoulders of those who should bear them. As a result, our shipments of unwanted computers and technology to offshore destinations is allowing some to walk away free, others to get wealthy, and the majority of those in the third world who disassemble this techno-trash to continue living in poverty.
Most North Americans, when told that their old computers are sent to countries like China, Africa or Pakistan, conjure up an archaic 1960's image of a missionary or aid worker stooped over the shoulder of a foreign national teaching them the finer points of modern technology. But that is rarely the truth.
Obsolete technology, like computers, monitors, printers and keyboards sent to the third world, end up being disassembled for their metals and plastics. In almost all cases, there are no safeguards in place to protect the environment or the health of workers. In many places throughout the third world, for the chance of earning 1 or 2 dollars per day, villagers and their children dismantle circuit boards, monitors and laser printers in unregulated conditions. Monitor CRT's, toner cartridges and the waste from circuit boards is dumped into local rivers and streams, and copper wire is burned in the open air to remove the insulation so that a higher price can be paid.
And a higher price is being paid. Those who suffer the most for the least, people who have no choice and no health care to speak of, who disassemble and process this “e-scrap”, are daily exposed to levels of chemical contaminants, which cause disease and irreversible harm. They often die from lung and metabolic diseases that until a few years ago were virtually unknown in those parts of the world. Large areas of the third world have been decimated and are now non-recoverable environmental disasters.
Plastics of every kind, along with aluminium, barium, cobalt, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, chromium, not to mention the lead in the solder and CRT, and bromine based flame retardants. All of these elements and compounds, coming from our modern technology, are turning up in the water supplies and farming fields of those folks who are forced to live within the areas of dismantling communes. An extremely lethal mix of chemicals that even the Niagara Falls Love Canal could not compete with.
Common sense tells you that if you toss your old computers and cell phones in the trash, you expose the Canadian eco-system to a similar deadly cocktail that would soon find its way into the drinking water of your children and grand children. It's also common sense that says a hefty fine awaits you if you pour old paint or motor oil down a storm drain. So what happens to common sense when we get rid of our old computers?
E-scrap is not like old coffee grinds or potato peels. It's not biodegradable and it doesn't just disappear. We can't keep it in the basement or garage forever, and we can't just dump it by the roadside. If you give it to a charity, not only does it become a liability for them, but they can only use 20%. The other 80% is sent to a landfill or sold to a broker and winds up on a container ship headed for either South America, Nigeria, the Orient, Pakistan or India. You end up making your one donation of a computer a problem for several others.
So how do we get all our ducks in a row, as common sense people and as those who have social conscience? Well first off, if you want to help a charity and not put a millstone around their neck, write them a cheque or give them cash, but don't give them that smelly old piece of outdated junk sitting in your closet. Sure, it's a high quality Macintosh, and yes you did pay $10,000 for that “goldfish bowl” 25 years ago, but honestly think about it; if you don't want your children and grandchildren learning computer skills on anything less than the latest, what makes you think NGO's and relief organisations can teach and help third world nationals on an 8088 with “Turbo Power”? Don't be fooled.
Second, all computer scrap that is not properly end of life recycled, or tagged for the Smithsonian in Washington, ends up in the local landfill or shipped offshore. That is a fact. To stop this insanity, ensure that who you pass off your old computer and electronics to is either a credible recycler who can provide proof of 100% North American recycling, or get a written promise, either from the charity or the friend you give it to, that the material they receive will not be tossed in the trash or given to some backyard recycler who can sell it as scrap for shipment to another country.
Third, understand that anything, which is of quality, is something you're going to pay for. This also applies to recycling. If a “recycler” tells you that everything he takes in gets properly recycled, but takes your material for free, then he's not telling the whole story. Chances are he's relying on the inherent value of the e-scrap to make a profit. Increasingly there is less and less value to be found that way, so increasingly the chances are he's shipping offshore what is called “negative value scrap”, or just dumping it.
To pay for recycling your electronics and computer equipment may at first glance seem preposterous, but if you look closer, you'll see that it's the only credible and reasonable option left in the 21st century. We pay a fee for tires, and for used motor oil. A portion of our property taxes goes to recycling paper and plastics. When you pay a fee for recycling your obsolete and broken computers, that fee goes to cover the environmentally responsible recovery of metals, plastics and chemicals that would otherwise poison the water table and soil. It can and is being done. Advancements in recovery technology make it possible to re-use material that just a few years ago was called “garbage” and landfilled.
We are fortunate in North America to be shielded by our robust and viable economy, from much of the inexpressable misery experienced by those in other countries. We have a healthy desire to help others out of their misery, to give in some substantive fashion of our time and resources. We have the highest rate of giving per capita in the world. But we must not allow this generosity of spirit to be misguided, frustrated or derailed through giving which creates liability and not benefit. When it comes to obsolete, outdated technology, whether in the form of computers, televisions, or even old cell phones, the action of choice must be End of Life Recycling as opposed to donation.
Will Brown is Manager of Computer Recyclers Inc., an Ottawa based company specialising in actively promoting responsible e-waste recycling. He can be reached at info@computerrecyclersottawa.com.
