Computer Recycling & Reuse
|
|
|
Computer Recycling & Reuse Program -
Glossary
Computer Recycling
Computer Refurbishing
Computer Reuse
Noncommercial computer reuse
Commercial computer reuse
e-Waste
Computer Recycling
Computer recycling is the term generically used to cover all aspects of dealing with discarded computers. It also has a more specific meaning: the breakdown of computer equipment to recover metals, plastics, and glass. There are over 1,000 different materials in computers, which makes this one of the most complex recycling processes in the entire environmental field.
Computer recyclers are usually large commercial companies or government programs that use expensive equipment. Extremely high volume is needed to make computer recycling even slightly profitable because of relatively low commodity prices and diminishing amounts of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum and palladium in recent years. Nearly all computer recyclers also remarket working parts and whole computers because this area of work yields much higher profits than shredding and smelting to recover materials. This part of the recycling business is called 'asset management' or 'asset recovery'.
The largest recycling companies are Noranda/MicroMetallics Corporation, Waste Management, IBM Credit Corporation, Metech International, Envirocycle, and UNICOR Federal Prison Industries.
Computer Refurbishing
Computer refurbishers recondition discarded computers to get them back in working order. This work is done by commercial refurbishers, such as Dell Refurbished, IBM Refurbished, and Nxtcycle etc) and also by noncommercial refurbishers, which are nonprofit- or school-based.
Refurbishers receive discarded computers, test them, extract useable parts of computers that are not repairable, and fix up ones that are. It usually takes two or three computer donations to yield a working reusable one. Computer refurbishers send nonworking equipment to recyclers for responsible disposal.
A crucial aspect of refurbishing is cleaning hard drives of existing data and installing clean operating systems and other software to make computers fully functional. The cost of computer refurbishing is estimated to be $105 per computer on average. This includes labor, parts, and eWaste disposal costs.
Computer Reuse
This is a very general term that refers to all efforts to keep computers in operation and extend their lives of beyond three years. It includes the work of small and large second-hand computer sellers, remanufacturing by all the large original computer makers (OEMs), equipment brokering, wholesale secondary market companies, and the work done by nonprofit- and school-based refurbishers.
Noncommercial Computer Reuse
This is an emerging field in which nonprofit- and school- based programs do computer refurbishing - most often in combination with computer training and distribution of computers to a particular population. Programs that supply computers specifically to low-income families are called 'access programs'. About 70% of noncommercial computer reuse field serves schools.
The Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) program is the first effort to identify all noncommercial computer reuse programs in the US. CompuMentor estimates that 400 to 500 such programs currently run in the United States with an average capacity of 200 computers per year. The largest programs supply 10,000 computers or more per year. These programs include Computers for Schools Canada, Per Scholas in NY, Computers for Schools in Chicago, The Computer Recycling Center (CRC) in the SF Bay Area, and the Students Recycling Used Technology (StRUT) programs in Portland, Phoenix, Georgia, and Silicon Valley.
Commercial Computer Reuse
A significant volume of reusable computer equipment is going in to two commercial streams:
- Individuals & businesses selling used equipment on eBay, other auctions or local classifieds
- The secondary wholesale market is the larger portion of commercial computer reuse. In this field, 'asset management' companies receive equipment from large companies, off-lease computers, or commercial recyclers. They resell whole computer systems or parts, often in developing countries. The big computer companies have divisions for this, like HP Financial Services and IBM Global Asset Recovery Services. There are other large secondary market companies like Asset Recovery Center, Sysix, Micro Metallics, United Computer Exchange, Waste Management Asset Management, etc. The large UNICOR Federal Prison Industries recycling programs also remarket a considerable number of computers and parts. Just like the automobile scrap industry, the most profitable part of the electronics recycling business is in reselling useable parts rather than from crushing equipment to salvage metals, plastics, and glass.
E-Waste
E-waste is another term for computer scrap - materials that are no longer useable. Large amounts of e-waste are still going in to landfills in this country and to developing countries. E-waste, when landfilled, is the source of several toxics, most prominently lead, leaching in to groundwater.
The US federal government, and all state governments have not been able to enact laws banning e-waste from landfills. Some states and municipal waste authorities have imposed landfill bans on CRT monitors and TVs. These are the most controversial components of eWaste. CRTs contain four to six pounds of lead on average. CRT computer monitors are being discarded in huge quantities in favor of LCD flat screen monitors due to dramatic price drops in LCD monitors. Circuit boards also contain lead and other heavy metals as well as toxics like arsenic. In additiona, computers are 50% plastic, a significant portion of which is treated (in a process called doping) with toxic brominated flame retardant chemicals.
|
|
