[Sosfbay-discuss] An Update on the Growing E-Waste Crisis

Brian Good snug.bug at hotmail.com
Sun Mar 16 17:12:37 PDT 2008 

I've got an idea for reducing computer e-waste.

I'd like to see the use of upgradable CPU/clock modules, 
I/O modules, and North and South Bridge modules 
so a machine could be upgraded without needing a new 
motherboard, case, and power supply.

I'd pay a price and performance tax for such a green
layout.  When I upgrade my modules I could then sell
the used ones on ebay to someone who can use them.
It would be far more efficient to collect, test, and ship 
these used modules than to go through discarded 
computers trying to figure out which ones still work.

Brian 



> From: andid at cagreens.org
> Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:48:05 -0700
> To: tnharter at aceweb.com
> CC: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
> Subject: Re: [Sosfbay-discuss] An Update on the Growing E-Waste Crisis
> 
> Tian, I think I got you beat.
> 
> I just remembered that I have the very first TV we bought in 1962;  
> it's a Zenith color TV, has all its original tubes (yes, tubes!), and  
> is in a piece of real furniture that closes up to hide the TV!  Back  
> then, we actually turned the TV off when company came or we had  
> something better to do like eat, talk, or go out somewhere!
> Last time I turned it on to test it, it worked!  (That was about 10  
> years ago.)
> Andrea
> 
> On Mar 14, 2008, at 10:43 PM, Tian Harter wrote:
> 
> > I should try to boot my Atari 520 ST and see what happens....
> >
> > Andrea Dorey wrote:
> >> OK, will people stop laughing at me now because I have my first  
> >> typewriter that I used in college, and my first Mac—now 20 years  
> >> old?  ;- )
> >> A.
> >> On Mar 12, 2008, at 3:13 PM, Tian Harter wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> James Kao
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> *An Update on the Growing E-Waste Crisis*
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> James Kao, founder, president and CEO of Los Altos-based  
> >>>> GreenCitizen,
> >>>> Inc., an innovator in the responsible recovery, recycling and
> >>>> accountability of end-of-life electronics last spoke to TASC in the
> >>>> summer of 2005.  Since then, GreenCitizen’s convenient, safe and
> >>>> accountable solutions to help save the environment from harmful
> >>>> electronic waste have been widely accepted in Silicon Valley and
> >>>> San Francisco.
> >>>>
> >>>> Every year, an estimated 400 million units of obsolete  
> >>>> electronics are
> >>>> scrapped; this figure will rise to three billion units by 2010.  
> >>>> While
> >>>> advances in technology continue to improve and enrich our lives,
> >>>> shorter product lifecycles mean an increasing stockpile of end- 
> >>>> of-life
> >>>> equipment that needs to be managed. When discarded, much of this
> >>>> equipment ends up in landfills in the US, or is exported to third
> >>>> world countries.  This is a global problem and it’s enormous: from
> >>>> collection, to responsible de-manufacturing, to finding new uses of
> >>>> the recycled materials, to inventing new sustainable materials that
> >>>> do not deplete the Earth’s resources or cause toxic harm to the
> >>> environment.
> >>>>
> >>>> James will describe how the activities of GreenCitizen
> >>>> (www.greencitizen.com) have grown since its founding and why it  
> >>>> is as
> >>>> important as ever that government, enterprise and individuals  
> >>>> take a
> >>>> shared approach to solving this problem.
> >>>>
> >>> James Kao is proud of the fact that GreenCitizen is now a money  
> >>> making
> >>> operation. Every week GreenCitizen takes in two 53 foot  
> >>> truckloads of
> >>> eWaste and recycle it responsibly. Every computer he sends to Fresno
> >>> to be responsibly disassembled is one more that doesn't go to Africa
> >>> or China to be scavenged and the remains left to pollute ground  
> >>> water
> >>> or burned to pollute the air.
> >>>
> >>> GreenCitizen has had enormously good luck with media access.  
> >>> During the
> >>> three and a half years the company has been around they have  
> >>> spent about
> >>> $100 on advertising. Word of mouth and press coverage has done a  
> >>> lot to
> >>> make the company more widely known. The company also does a lot of
> >>> tabling and speaking in front of community groups to generate  
> >>> visibility.
> >>> Kao showed us slides of kids playing recycling games GreenCitizen  
> >>> had
> >>> developed to make eWaste recycling more fun.  Over the past few  
> >>> years
> >>> GreenCitizen has picked up many reputable corporate sponsors, and is
> >>> always working on getting more.
> >>>
> >>> GreenCitizen generates a lot of statistical information about the  
> >>> eWaste
> >>> they take in. Kao showed us a chart of the most recycled brands,  
> >>> with
> >>> Apple being number one. He mentioned that the coming digital  
> >>> transition
> >>> for TV has resulted in a huge rise in the number of TV sets being
> >>> recycled. It used to be that all the glass, lead, and copper was  
> >>> needed
> >>> for the next generation of TVs and monitors. One problem is that now
> >>> that those are being made with LCD screens the lead and glass is no
> >>> longer as needed. GreenCitizen is part of the industry wide  
> >>> search for
> >>> new uses for the stuff.
> >>>
> >>> GreenCitizen recycles a lot of eWaste from their two offices, but  
> >>> it is
> >>> only a small percentage of the eWaste out there. The company  
> >>> plans to
> >>> open offices in Berkeley, San Mateo County, Campbell/Los Gatos,  
> >>> and the
> >>> Presidio in San Francisco during the next year. They have also  
> >>> developed
> >>> a kiosk that works inside a big box store, so that customers  
> >>> there can
> >>> recycle on the premises for store credit. James is excited by the
> >>> win-win synergies that kind of thing will develop.
> >>>
> >>> During Q&A a number of other points came up:
> >>>
> >>> GreenCitizen has recently expanded into computer repair. This  
> >>> extends
> >>> the useful life of many machines. Also, GreenCitizen likes providing
> >>> computer systems to schools and community groups at very reasonable
> >>> prices. The company sells such systems with a promise to take it  
> >>> back at
> >>> the end of its life at no charge.
> >>>
> >>> The average American buys ten small transformer containing power
> >>> supplies every year as part of buying electronic products. James Kao
> >>> thinks it would be great if these things could be standardized and
> >>> modularized enough that people could get the power supply only  
> >>> when they
> >>> needed another one. Green Citizen is working with a number of design
> >>> firms to make this vision a reality.
> >>>
> >>> For more information, please visit:
> >>>
> >>> http://greencitizen.com/
> >>>
> >>> --Tian
> >>> http://tian.greens.org
> >>> Monday I fixed the fill valve in my toilet. It only took $10 or
> >>> so, three trips to OSH, and one to Minton Company on my bicycle.
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> sosfbay-discuss mailing list
> >>> sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
> >>> http://lists.cagreens.org/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss
> >>>
> >
> > -- 
> > Tian
> > http://tian.greens.org
> > Monday I fixed the fill valve in my toilet. It only took $10 or
> > so, three trips to OSH, and one to Minton Company on my bicycle.
> >
> 
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