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Eco-Friendly Computers Still But a Dream |
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By By Francesca Colombo*
In
Italy, only 15 percent of electronic waste is recycled. The country
is not yet prepared to comply with the European Union's regulations
in this area.
MILAN, Oct 2 (Tierramérica) - Despite Europe's
efforts to curb pollution, Italy recycles just 15 percent of its
used and and obsolete computers and other electronic devices, making
it difficult to find an effective solution to the problem of electronic
waste.
That figure comes from the Ecoqual'It Consortium, which encompasses
Italy's leading high-tech distributors and importers.
According to the consortium's spokesman Stefano Appuzzo, in Italy
60 percent of obsolete electric and electronic devices end up in
the regular waste dumps or are merely stored in people's homes,
and the recycled equipment is having a hard time finding a place
in the market.
"Today's computer prices are low and very competitive. Users prefer
to buy a new personal computer than a recycled one, because the
price difference is so small. The market is finding it difficult
to promote recycled devices," Appuzzo told Tierramérica.
In Italy there are around 6.7 million computer users. Each computer
is made from more than a thousand parts. Many of the components
contain toxic materials, like mercury, chromium or lead, which can
pose a threat to human health and to the environment.
Recycling of electronics requires time, money and organization.
The devices must be collected, dismantled, and the parts categorized
by what can be reused and what has to be thrown out.
Furthermore, new, faster computers are appearing on the market with
greater frequency. Not so long ago, a personal computer had a useful
life of about 10 years, but today, a four-year-old computer is considered
obsolete.
But there are some recycling incentives in the works. A group of
young people in the Italian city of Milan created the Riciclaggio
Etico (Ethical Recycling) association, which sells used items over
the Internet and also in antique markets and street fairs, to raise
consumer awareness about the problems related to electronic waste.
Riciclaggio Etico collects obsolete items free of charge, such as
computer components, including cables, keyboards, computer mice
and monitors, and resells them at low prices.
"Personal computers should not be purchased, but rather rented.
With that approach we would save a lot. And we have to use the computers
for the longest time possible," Riciclaggio Etico director Tommaso
Cerioli told Tierramérica.
There are 300 companies in Italy dedicated to recuperating electric
and electronic equipment. For example, Progeo Ambiente, founded
in 1996, collects computers, completely dismantles them, and separates
out the non-reusable parts of the recyclables (aluminum, computer
cards, plastic and cables).
"Many Italians don't know how to dispose of their old computers,
and they call us for help. We pick them up and we follow the rules
for technological waste: we classify, separate and then we take
the dangerous materials to the cities' special facilities, which
are in charge of destroying them," Loredana Sanasone, of Progeo
Ambiente, told Tierramérica.
Nevertheless, these efforts at recycling do not resolve the problem
of electronic waste.
Computers are part of the 107,000 tons of electric and electronic
waste produced annually in Italy, according to Ecoqual'It. Of those,
30 percent are resold, 15 percent are abandoned, and just 15 percent
or disposed of appropriately. The rest ends up in the garbage.
In the European Union, 90 percent of the 6.5 million tons of electronic
waste produced by the bloc each year is burned without first being
classified or treated.
The EU established that high-tech manufacturers must eliminate toxic
substances and assume responsibility of their products until the
end of their useful life.
But in July, Italy postponed for one year its compliance with EU
rules on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. The country's
regional governments are not set up for free collection of such
waste, nor are local companies ready to meet the requirements of
the EU directive.
And the international companies that sell their electronic products
in Italy are not making much of an effort to reduce the use of toxic
materials, although they state otherwise.
Such is the conclusion of an August 2005 study by the environmental
watchdog Greenpeace, which analyzed 40 components from five computer
manufacturers: the U.S.-based Apple, Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP),
Japan's Sony, and Taiwan's Acer.
According to Greenpeace, the components from Apple and HP computers
contain worrisome toxins. HP, furthermore, says on its web site
that it eliminated one contaminating substance years ago, but the
study says this is not true.
"It is possible to reduce much more the toxic substances in computer
manufacturing. We need more rigorous regulations that require the
replacement of all of those parts," Greenpeace's Giuseppe Onuffri
told Tierramérica.
He added that many of the computers thrown out in Europe end up
in China or India, where they are dismantled and parts are recycled
without regulations to protect health or the environment.
Apple Computer rejected Greenpeace's accusations, asserting that
it has a solid environmental policy and is a leader in the industry
in limiting the use of toxic substances in the manufacture of electronics.
* Francesca Colombo is a Tierramérica contributor. |
