Old Hardware

[Alex Dean]

der.hans wrote:
> I don't know for sure that proper disposal actually happens. I'd like to
> know more. If anyone has direct experience please let us know.
>
> ciao,
> der.hans
Well, I saw the darker side of it once.  I was involved in replacing a 
large number of defective monitors a few years ago when I was living in 
Denver.  At my work, we replaced them with new monitors, and stored the 
bad ones in our warehouse.  Every so often, a truck came to get the bad 
ones and bring us new good ones.  I asked where the bad ones went.  The 
short answer was they went to Mexico.  The longer answer was that they 
went about a mile across the border and went straight into the ground.  
The EPA stops that kind of stuff in the US (to a large degree, anyway), 
but NAFTA has made it much easier for us to export our toxic waste.  
Very depressing.

On a different topic (regarding donated machines), I  have to disagree 
with the statement that "3rd world countries don't want old boxen".  It 
might be true in some places, but the 3rd world is every bit as diverse 
as the 1st world, and it's impossible to generalize on that level.

My brother was in the Peace Corps in Ecuador for 2 years.  One of his 
projects was helping a local NGO who set up refurbished computers in 
village schools.  He solicited hard drive donations from all over the US 
via email, and picked them up on a visit home.  (You can fit a lot of 
hard drives in a few suitcases.)  Back in Ecuador, they were installed 
in other donated computers, and went out into the countryside to be 
(usually) the only computer for many miles.  They were old hardware, and 
probably bad on power consumption, but they gave kids access to 
computing that simply wouldn't have been available otherwise.

I don't think there's any overall theme here.  I just throw these 
anecdotes out to say that we DO have a responsibility to see that old 
hardware is properly disposed of, and that there are people in the world 
who can benefit from stuff we have no use for.

In another vein, even better than recycling is reducing what you 
consume.  Do you really NEED that new machine, that new car, that new 
whatever?  The less you buy, the less trash you produce and the less 
energy you waste.  Certainly recycling is better than the landfill, but 
using less is better than either of them.

happy Friday,
alex