How Green is Your Computer?

If you don't use a computer regularly these days, you're probably still living in the Stone Age. E-mail, research, news - computing is central to our 'modern' lives and consequently computing waste is becoming a central problem of living in a throwaway society.

Greenpeace has just released a green electronics rating scheme - at the top of the list is Lenovo and Nokia, at number 1 and 2 respectively, and the 14-company table is brought up by LG, Panasonic and Apple, second last and last respectively. Boooo.

What this table measures is the policies and practices of global IT equipment manufacturers on eliminating harmful, yucky chemicals from their products and taking back and recycling their own products when they become obsolete and consumers want to dispose of them. The chemicals are the biggest worry - chemicals that when sent to landfill, seep out and can cause toxic contamination, such as (take a deep breath) brominated fire retardants, beryllium and polyvinyl chloride. Therefore it is important that companies offer take-back facilities so that they can safely recycle equipment, and Levono, at the top of the list, offer take-back in all countries where its products are sold.

The UN now even has global e-waste targets and recently-launched initiatives, recognizing, among other problems, that black-market recycling to meet demand for computing equipment is conducted in dangerously unsafe conditions, often using child labour.

On campus, university-owned computers are recycled centrally - that is, they are collected, stored and then taken away for 'safe' disposal. Unfortunately this scheme doesn't extend to personal computing equipment. The best bet for that would be Craft Recycling, at the Aber train station - but I make no guarantees that they will actually take it. You can recycle mobile phones at the university residence receptions, but this, like many other things, is severely under-publicized.

For any fellow Apple-equipment owners out there, check out Green My Apple - tell Steve Jobs to get a greener company.