Ever wondered what happens to our old computers? Most of our computers in North America journey to Asia or African countries, where they create unhealthy environments for millions of people. An estimated 50 to 80 percent of E-waste collected in the United States for recycling is exported to areas such as China, India or Pakistan, where workers taking apart the old machines are handling toxic chemicals that can pose serious health problems. The improper recycling of electronic waste in developing countries results in serious health and pollution problems such as water contaminated with lead and increased rates of cancer.
On the other hand, a few companies are taking responsibility in order to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals found in their computers. For example, Dell, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway have recently expanded programs to collect old computer equipment to be reused. Likewise Fujitsu is among a handful of Japanese companies that have developed technologies to help eliminate some of the toxic chemicals by developing lead-free products .
Hence we are calling upon the computer industry as a whole to make a commitment to consumers that they will follow the lead of companies like Apple in reducing the amount toxins found in their computers.
That way everyone can look forward to a greener and safer world of tomorrow, for all.
We the undersigned recognize that we are currently facing a possible recession and that the environment might not be at the forefront of your minds. However, it would be wise to listen to our request because it just might prove advantageous to you all.
Apple has already demonstrated that companies can make great leaps in moving towards greener and safer computers for all. Not so long ago Apple was one of the worst computer companies when it came to environment according to Greenpeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/apple/itox.html. Today however, they have one of the greenest laptops around. This includes new MacBooks that are free of many of the contaminants still found in other computers such as %u201CBFR-free internal components, Mercury-free LED-backlit display, Arsenic-free glass, and PVC-free internal cables.%u201D
Therefore, if Apple can make so much progress in such a short time, other computer manufacturers have no excuse as to why they cannot provide us as consumers with computers that are free of toxins. While we recognize that other companies have already agreed to do the same as Apple and we commend them for that, our hope is that the industry as a whole can agree upon phasing out these poisons in favour of safer alternatives. The reality is that although many governments have signed the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal agreement they have had a hard time enforcing it. As such, many computers still end up in communities like Guiyu at the end of their life cycle. There they are recycled by workers who suffer countless illnesses because of the poisons contained within these computers.
That is why we as consumers arecounting upon you, the computer manufacturers, to lead the way in making a greener world for us all, by eliminating the toxins found in the computers of today.
