In the news is a story on the large number of older PCs “in the wild” that could be recycled. It seems of the 7 million out there in a recyclable condition, only 500,000 will be recycled. Apparently the rest go to landfills or rust away in storage.
Why let the older PCs rot? Unless you are running a computer museum, they have no value, many of them even too obsolete to use for parts. They have some novelty value converted to lamps or fish tanks, but even that is a passing fad that only results in them returning to the garage, eventually.
In the computer world, a PC has value for a finite amount of time. With each passing year, the potential return on an older PC depreciates. Eventually it reduces in value to the point at which there is no point in recycling it, but that takes years.
It’s important to get as much return on your investment as possible by recycling it early while someone else can still get some use out of it. Not only that, there is the value to the environment gleaned from properly disposed of PCs and electronic parts. Some of them can be quite toxic if not dumped properly or if left to rot in storage, especially the older models.
Australia goes out of its way to make it easy for PCs to be recycled. They have disposal initiatives in many of the local municipalities. Australia also has initiatives like the Sustainability Victoria’s Byteback program.
Some people in the computer industry think that government initiatives and raising awareness isn’t enough. They think the manufacturers need to do more, but at what cost? If the manufacturers become responsible for a greater portion of the recycling they will be forced to absorb the cost as well.
That means that something good for the environment could become bad for your wallet if it isn’t managed correctly as the costs eventually trickle down to the consumer. In this age where PCs have finally become affordable for the average person to won, leveling the playing field in education and employment, its important to find a solution that offers a cost conscious green option for everyone.
Would anyone be interested in a recylcing program that put old PCs into the homes of the older generations? Even within my own family there are still many for whom computers were not used for much of their working life. The elderly could find access to the internet, email, VoIP, etc, invaluable in a multitude of ways. Older machines should suffice for basic applications.
I’d be interested to hear from anyone with a view.