Be Green: Recycle your old computer hardware

The fight for the planet is on. It is now fully proven, undeniably, evident that the earth is fighting for its life. During its short but deadly lifespan, human civilization has managed to place a devastating strain on the planet’s resources and health.

It is now our duty to reverse this ill effect, even though it may be too late. There are thousands of ways people can contribute to the cause: from taking on older techniques such as recycling paper to utilizing newer technologies like fuel-efficient cars. I’d like to concentrate on one specific way through which people can help the planet- recycling computer equipment.

Throwing away used networking hardware, monitors, hard drives, routers, RAM, webcams, batteries or anything of the like can have a devastating effect if the equipment ends up in our landfills.

From nysscpa.org:
Most of the environmental concerns with computers lie with the monitor, specifically its cathode ray tube (CRT). Each color monitor contains, on average, four to five pounds of lead, considered hazardous waste when disposed of, according to EPA standards. Computers also contain other hazardous materials, including mercury, cadmium (a known carcinogen), and hexavalent chromium (shown to cause high blood pressure, iron-poor blood, liver disease, and nerve and brain damage in animals).

One way to get rid of old computer equipment is to donate it to one of the many non-profit organizations that will accept it. Many local schools and non-profits could greatly benefit from your old computer equipment. Two sites to help you donate are sharetechnology.org and cristina.org.

If you believe that your equipment is beyond repair or reuse, one option for disposal is the full dismantling of the hardware. Many hardware manufacturers, such as Dell, Apple and HP, provide their own programs to dismantle and recycle old equipment. You can visit each of their respective sites to find out how these programs work.

The final option is to seek out a reputable hardware recycling or asset recovery program online. One problem with the current computer sales environment is that consumers are goaded too frequently to buy upgraded or better computer hardware. This cycle creates more waste on the other end when the old equipment model is ’kicked out of the house’ by the younger model.

Much of the time, experienced hardware professionals may actually be able to repair or salvage your old equipment. Instead of buying new equipment, you can save money and the environment by repairing, reusing, and recycling your hardware. There are several online vendors that will pay top dollar for your used cisco, dell, apple, HP, or any brand name computer hardware. This creates an ‘eco-system’ for computer hardware that benefits the planet instead of harming it.

Some of these vendors provide repair and recycling services to resell the refurbished computer equipment at a lower price. In turn, businesses and consumers can then purchase a refurbished cisco or refurbished juniper router, dell server or mac powerbook at a discounted price. The key to this cycle is no new equipment needs to be manufactured, and in turn create additional waste.

Many citizens, cities, consumers and corporations still do not know how to properly dispose of computer equipment, even though it has become so commonplace. It is integral that this ‘know-how’ become common knowledge.