Where your Electronics End with an Unethical Recycler?

Even after all the news reporting about the damages created by wrongly disposing of obsolete or broken equipment, we still see e-waste being piled up at the dump.

This does not make sense because most of the parts: glass, steel, copper, aluminum, plastics and precious metals – can be recovered and be used again to make new items. Computers are being upgraded more frequently than ever, cell phones frequently break and electronic is now seen as something that is disposable instead of a material possession. The average turn-around for replacing a computer is shorter than 2 years in North America.

The gadgets are not always needed; it’s not all about necessity but mostly because people just like getting new stuff, with the latest gadgets and features. Electronic has become a fashion item that will not be needed when something trendier will hit the market.

Why are People Not Recycling Their E-Waste?

A lot of noise has been made by associations such as Greenpeace regarding the poor ethics of some recyclers outsourcing their recycling to Asian and African countries or simply exporting garbage to those countries. The message from Greenpeace has chocked a lot of people and I think the result has not been exactly what was to be expected. The association demonstrated to the world how lots of toxics ends being badly recycled in China. We can then make the assumption that some individuals and companies are keeping their e-waste, not sure if it will ends in a correct place.

It is not a good idea to put our head under the sand and send our electronic to the junk. A few associations such as ACIR are there to verify that their members are going trough some rules such as avoiding exports to third world countries and not sending electronic waste to landfills. Every accredited companies are checked and customers can be insured of a proper recycling of their equipment when they send to one of their member.

Many people are still in the belief that they should get money returned for their electronic waste. Others think that a company can go pick up the e-waste, while properly sorting and separating it, unscrew all the plastic pieces from the metal parts and afford to pay North American salaries without charging a cent to their customer. People have to realize that recycling obsolete computers only pay a few cents per kg of material. Those stating that they do free collects and free recycling are clearly doing something unethical if they are not financed directly by the authorities to do it. PC Recycle, a company started in 1994 still has to compete against unethical players in the field with no physical place, literally running their business from a cellular phone and a pickup truck. Those “recyclers” are salvaging what they can sell and the balance is most probably sent to landfills even though another story is told to their clients. At least, no one can check because these amateurs are obviously not accredited by any organization.

So before choosing a company to recycle your electronic, look around and find who their competitors are. If they offer you a free recycling, it should raise a red flag. You should always make sure that your recycler is part of an association. And make sure that your recycler would accept to show you his facilities: an appropriate recycling will come from a company that is transparent in its activities.

Author Bio: More information can be found at http://www.pcrecycle.ca. Please submit a form addressing the webmaster if you want a unique article on the matter.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: computer recycling, recycling, reuse