E-waste a growing concern, Warning: That old computer poses health risks

Computers are piled high at the recycling area at the Amherst waste transfer station off Belchertown Road. (photo by Sarah Landau)

Few things are more exciting than getting hold of the hottest new plasma screen TV, or the latest snazzy LCD monitor. But with each new electronic purchase, a question looms: what to do with the old equipment.

For those on the front line dealing with ''e-waste'' - that is, discarded electronics equipment - there are no easy disposal solutions, and the problem is only getting bigger.

"The quantity is unbelievable," said Lorenzo Macaluso, a waste-management specialist with the Center for Ecological Technology in Northampton, who also coordinates the electronic waste disposal program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Macaluso said that in the near future, as new liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors and flat screen TVs become more popular, more and more individuals and companies will discard their old glass screens, known as cathode ray tubes (CRTs), which will further burden recycling programs.

Massachusetts law prevents simply chucking a monitor or television into the trash, but resale of such items is difficult, and recycling comes at a cost to municipalities and users - not to mention the environment.

Lots of hazards

Computers and other electronics are loaded with heavy metals and toxic chemicals such as flame retardants, and some environmentalists say that recycling them isn't as clean and green as it sounds.

"This is a very hazardous industry," said Jim Puckett, coordinator of the Basel Action Network of Seattle, Wash., a group that seeks to eliminate toxic materials from electronic equipment.

In conjunction with Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition of San Jose, Calif., the Basel Action Network produced a report revealing that up to 70 percent of all recyclable computer equipment is actually shipped off to poor villages in Asia (mainly in China), where underpaid workers are using dangerous methods to extract the precious metals inside them - a process that has poisoned their water supplies and caused disease and environmental degradation.

The report sent shock waves through the high-tech community when it came out in 2002, said Puckett, who says some manufacturers are making an effort to change their practices.

Even within the United States, recycling of computers is hazardous, said Puckett.

Televisions and CRT monitors contain lead and barium, one reason they've been banned from landfills in the state. The recycling process, said Puckett, involves an explosion that releases phosphorus, a suspected hazard.

Similarly, he said, the bromated flame retardants in the plastic housings of monitors are toxic. Shredding of metal casing can release beryllium dust, he said. Beryllium is a known carcinogen.

"The ultimate answer is to get the toxics out of the machines," said Puckett.

Europe's approach

European manufacturers are required take back electronics once a consumer is done using them, something Puckett said should be required in the U.S. as well.

In addition, Europe bans exports of e-waste, while the U.S. has no such ban in place.

Macaluso, who has run extensive checks on the recycling facilities that UMass uses, says he's confident that none of these facilities are exporting to poorer nations such as China.

In the last 12 years since the UMass electronic waste disposal program was launched, there has been about a sixfold increase in e-waste on campus, said Macaluso. The center now processes about 250 to 300 tons of e-waste a year.

The UMass recycling center only accepts waste from towns, large organizations, and large companies.

Individuals tend to go to municipal landfills like Northampton's, where disposing of a monitor or TV can cost from $5 for a small CRT monitor or TV to $25 for a projection screen in the city's electronic recycling program.

"Reuse is certainly better than throwing it away," said Macaluso.

But those who are trying to come up with ways to reuse old equipment are running into roadblocks.

Julie Pokela, owner of Market Street Research in Northampton, has been working with Uplinc of Deerfield to refurbish donated computers and provide them to The Care Center, a program for pregnant and parenting teens in Holyoke.

Reuse expensive

Pokela has discovered that it's expensive and time-consuming to prepare old computers for reuse - sometimes outweighing the cost of simply going out and buying a brand-new computer.

"It costs so much money to get them retrofitted to make them usable," she said.

Northampton uses Goodwill Industries of Springfield to manage its electronic recycling program, something that the city hoped would mean that some of the equipment would be refurbished and resold, said Karen Bouquillon, Northampton's waste management coordinator.

But when this turned out to be cost prohibitive, the equipment was sent off to a recycling facility instead.

Bouquillon said that when the state first mandated recycling of CRTs, state grants were available to handle the extra costs, but these are all long gone. Northampton's electronic recycling program is struggling to stay afloat.

"For most communities, the electronic recycling programs are a burden," said Bouquillon.