Think about this when buying your next computer

[Skybird]

Just that.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...665061,00.html

And think even more when considering different options of how to discard your old computer.

Why do you want us to print that page?

Worthy subject, anyhow.

[SteamWake]

I dont know how much truth that article holds.

I know here in florida at least there are very stringent regulations and processing agenceys / plants designed and operated with the sole purpose of dealing with discareded electronics of all types, computers included.

For anything that 'slips by' the original screening the landfill dumps are constantly 'patrolled' and any discarded electonics from an AA battery to large televisions are extracted and sent to the processing plant.

A good deal of time and money is spent by the goverment to assure that we are not 'posining' anything.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

I dont know how much truth that article holds.

I know here in florida at least there are very stringent regulations and processing agenceys / plants designed and operated with the sole purpose of dealing with discareded electronics of all types, computers included.

For anything that 'slips by' the original screening the landfill dumps are constantly 'patrolled' and any discarded electonics from an AA battery to large televisions are extracted and sent to the processing plant.

A good deal of time and money is spent by the goverment to assure that we are not 'posining' anything.

correct.

I dont know how they do things in Sierra Leone but over here we dont allow that sort of thing

[gutted]

no sympathy from me.

maybe if they quit fighting each other, and move into the 21st century and manufacture something the world wants... they wouldn't be our dumpsters.

same goes for every other backwards country.

Originally Posted by gutted

no sympathy from me.

maybe if they quit fighting each other, and move into the 21st century and manufacture something the world wants... they wouldn't be our dumpsters.

same goes for every other backwards country.

Like the USA?

[Skybird]

The United Nations estimates that up to 50 million tons of electronic waste are thrown away globally each year. It costs about €3.50 ($5.30) to properly dispose of an old CRT monitor in Germany. But it costs only €1.50 to stick it on a container ship to Ghana.

An international treaty, the Basel Convention, came into effect in 1989. The treaty is sound in its concept, forbidding developed countries from carrying out unauthorized dumping of computer waste in less developed countries. A total of 172 countries have signed the convention, but three of them never ratified it: Haiti, Afghanistan, and the United States. According to estimates by the US Environmental Protection Agency, around 40 million computers are discarded each year in the US alone.

European Union directives with acronyms like WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) followed the Basel Convention, and individual countries have signed them into law. Germany's waste disposal laws are among the world's strictest, and shipping computer waste to Ghana can lead to a prison sentence. In theory.

The German government recently set out to examine how things look in practice. Experts at the German Federal Environment Agency are still completing a paper that will be published in the coming weeks, but the upshot is already clear -- there are serious holes in the country's recycling system. According to the study, export firms in Germany ship 100,000 tons of discarded electrical appliances south each year, far more than experts had feared.

"This is a business worth millions, not something that falls under petty crime," says Knut Sander at the Hamburg-based environmental institute Ökopol. He authored the study, which took him months to research. His investigations landed him warnings that he should watch out for his own safety.

Having laws and treaties (or not) is one thing. Reality is a different thing.

You guys now see the problem?

[August]

Yeah because it's better to let those poor kids starve to death than allow them to do a potentially dangerous job.

Originally Posted by August

Yeah because it's better to let those poor kids starve to death than allow them to do a potentially dangerous job.

Planning to go there and starve kids? Usually it's napalm for the kids when it comes to you Americans.

[NeonSamurai]

More then potentially dangerous, are you aware of the kind of stuff found in electronics like circuit boards and how they extract the valuable material? The stuff is full of mercury, lead, and other toxins (plus plastics, etc) and the valuable metals are usually extracted by burning it in an open fire. Its pure explotation and circumventing environmental regulations.

This is just like how they dismantle ships in the various third world countries. Absolutely no regard for the workers or environment, only money.

[gutted]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

M the valuable metals are usually extracted by burning it in an open fire. Its pure explotation and circumventing environmental regulations.

This is just like how they dismantle ships in the various third world countries. Absolutely no regard for the workers or environment, only money.

natural selection at work.

i dont see the problem.

if you know the socket has electricity in it, and you still put a fork in it... why should i care?

[CaptainHaplo]

Funny how the US is catching alot of blame here - but we have put forth alot of effort to insure that such things are dealt with appropriately.

Also - the "40 million" pc's a year? How many of those are "retired" pc's that still function, but are replaced by consumers or corporations? My company sanitizes the machines of data, then donates them to various charities. Some of those charities do send the pc's overseas. But not for destruction. They are donated to help run health offices, schools, etc.

In fact, I recall a couple of years ago one charity notified us that they were not going to send any overseas that year because the PC's had been stolen once there - by the locals - to "harvest" for their valuable innards.

So gee, its not always a question of dumping. Its often people who CHOOSE to expose themselves to the hazardous materials simply to enrich themselves in the short term. This often also occurs - as in the case I know of - where they do so at the cost of their society.

Not meaning to sound harsh - but they choose that - and somehow its the evil US corporation that caused it - when all we were doing was trying to help the local people have a more modern level of health care.

I have to agree with gutted - that is the very picture of pulling yourself out of the gene pool.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by gutted

natural selection at work.

i dont see the problem.

if you know the socket has electricity in it, and you still put a fork in it... why should i care?

(the above quote is to be seen in the context of the situation and discussion)

Sometimes I stroll over such brilliant comments that they make me wish the author a bad, poor future to suffer - so that by that suffering he gets a chance to learn some things for the better.

Some people live in such miserable places in the world, in so deep and dark hell holes of poverty and misery, that they have no choice if they want to survive the running month, laserbrain. Thats true for chinese coal miners. that's true for child slaves doing child labour. That is true for poor people working in India's shipyards and Gana's computer "business".

Or did you think they do that just as a hobby?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

Funny how the US is catching alot of blame here - but we have put forth alot of effort to insure that such things are dealt with appropriately.

Also - the "40 million" pc's a year? How many of those are "retired" pc's that still function, but are replaced by consumers or corporations? My company sanitizes the machines of data, then donates them to various charities. Some of those charities do send the pc's overseas. But not for destruction. They are donated to help run health offices, schools, etc.

In fact, I recall a couple of years ago one charity notified us that they were not going to send any overseas that year because the PC's had been stolen once there - by the locals - to "harvest" for their valuable innards.

So gee, its not always a question of dumping. Its often people who CHOOSE to expose themselves to the hazardous materials simply to enrich themselves in the short term. This often also occurs - as in the case I know of - where they do so at the cost of their society.

Not meaning to sound harsh - but they choose that - and somehow its the evil US corporation that caused it - when all we were doing was trying to help the local people have a more modern level of health care.

I have to agree with gutted - that is the very picture of pulling yourself out of the gene pool.

Yes. They choose that.

[NeonSamurai]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

Funny how the US is catching alot of blame here.

So gee, its not always a question of dumping. Its often people who CHOOSE to expose themselves to the hazardous materials simply to enrich themselves in the short term. This often also occurs - as in the case I know of - where they do so at the cost of their society.

Not meaning to sound harsh - but they choose that - and somehow its the evil US corporation that caused it - when all we were doing was trying to help the local people have a more modern level of health care.

I have to agree with gutted - that is the very picture of pulling yourself out of the gene pool.

I don't think US corporations are only to blame, there is plenty of blame to go round the world for all the countries (including the countries where it happens, we all know its not the workers who are making money off this). Sure there are sincere attempts made to deal with the material properly, but there are also plenty of corporations that will do their very best to circumvent it just to save a bit of money.

I don't see choice entering into the picture though for the workers. For one thing they are not educated anywhere near enough to be truly aware of the danger they face, or to be able to understand it. Also even if they do, what choice to they have? Either they do it, or they starve to death. That is what makes it exploitation.