Dell’s is one of the more permissive recapture programs. For consumers, the company offers free recycling of Dell brand products at any time and other brands with a purchase from Dell. The program includes home pick up for consumers. For business and institutional customers, Dell’s program includes pick up or shipping from customer locations and data wipes of recovered computers.

Sony’s program covers laptop computers only. The company offers free shipping and accepts used laptops from any manufacturer with the sale of a new Sony laptop.

Gateway offers professional customers two fee-based services, asset recycling and value recovery. Asset recovery is environmentally responsible recycling for obsolete information technology. Value recovery credits the value of the recovered equipment to the customer’s account; that credit can be used toward future Gateway purchases.

All of the responding firms said they will accept discarded technology manufactured by other companies under some circumstances.

Dell, Gateway, and HP have formal technology recycling programs in place. Lenovo, which purchased IBM’s computer business in 2006, indicated that the firm is seeking legislation to formalize and prescribe aspects of the recapture of discarded tech equipment. Currently, Lenovo allows consumers and business customers to recycle any manufacturer’s PCs, including system units, monitors, printers, and optional attachments, for $30, shipping included. In the past year, Lenovo has participated in take-back schemes, according to the company Web site, and is evaluating future commitments.

The firms’ responses indicate that serious e-waste management is at an early stage, with much remaining to be defined. When asked to estimate the percentage of their own technology currently being recaptured, only HP was able to provide a numerical response: 10.3% of sales.

Trade Associations & Industry Watchers

While the issues are unsettled, there is no shortage of stakeholders in many quarters, all interested in finding a solution to a growing e-waste challenge. Manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, legislators, the EPA, and concerned citizens are all in the mix, with some interests primarily economic and others centering on environmental issues.

Consumer Electronics Association

The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association; www.ce.org) represents over 2,100 retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. Spokesperson Kristie Taylor said CEA is currently lobbying Congress for legislation to get a systematic handle on e-waste management.

Two competing positions have emerged. CEA and the majority of its members favor laws creating an advance recycling fee to be paid at the time of purchase, similar to programs used for automotive batteries. A different approach, establishing a direct take-back program to be executed by computer manufacturers, is favored by some computer firms.

Four states have recently enacted different laws covering e-waste disposal. Disparity in the laws suggests an emerging patchwork approach that could result from state-level solutions. Taylor says that CEA favors a more uniform approach, noting, “It’s a national problem that requires a national solution.”

Trade Magazine

Industry watcher Jerry Powell is publisher of E-Scrap News in Portland, Ore. This fall, his company sponsored its fifth annual E-Scrap conference in Austin, Texas. The 2006 conference attracted 750 attendees from 15 countries, including major computer firms.

Like the CEA, he also favors a standard solution for the United States because, as he notes, “it will not happen voluntarily.”

Powell stresses the potential for e-cycling. By his count, there are 1,027 for-profit e-cycling firms in operation in the United States and Canada. Old CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors are a problem because of lead used in the glass screens, but computer recyclers can extract small amounts of valuable metals, including gold, silver, palladium, and copper, suggesting that e-cycling can be profitable. He estimated that each ton of circuit boards contains 7 ounces of gold, and gold has recently been trading well above $600 per ounce.

Refurbishment represents an opportunity. A component that’s obsolete for one user may be exactly what someone else needs. Powell says that over 70% of Americans store outdated electrical devices that are candidates for landfills; many of those devices could be refurbished and resold, contributing to the economy rather than being thrown away, possibly damaging the environment.

Ongoing Research

University of Florida. Dr. Tim Townsend, an associate professor at University of Florida’s Department of Environmental Engineering, is a frequent speaker on e-waste. Some tech components definitely qualify as hazardous materials, but that’s not the whole picture, according to Townsend. “Data indicates risks are not major” if landfills are operated properly. Lead used in CRT monitor screens and elsewhere is viewed as a risk by some, but “when we look at chemicals in landfills, lead remains fairly immobile . . . [it] will leach very slowly, if at all. Other environmental risks probably are greater than (component) disposal in landfills.”

What about the sheer volume of computers and monitors potentially headed for landfills?

Sustainability is the real issue, says Townsend. “It doesn’t make sense to dig up toxic materials, use them up, and then sprinkle them back into the biosphere. The science doesn’t warrant scare tactics. I’m willing to pay [a fee] not to have it put in a landfill.”

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). While the EPA manages a host of environmental issues, the federal agency’s mission doesn’t extend to waste generated by households, a primary source of components that end up in landfills. Instead, individual states are charged with managing landfills within state boundaries.

According to EPA information officer Roxanne Smith, the EPA estimates that 2.6 million tons of e-waste was generated in 2005, with about 330,000 tons recaptured for recycling, or about 12.5% of the total for that year. The EPA estimates that about 1% of the total waste in landfills can be attributed to e-waste.

Gartner Research. Several Gartner Research reports point to a large and growing demand for used PCs in some quarters of the world. Gartner identifies the United States, Japan, and Western Europe as the main sources for used PCs. High-demand regions such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Asia/Pacific region are hungry for technology discards. Export demand outstrips supply, especially for notebook PCs, one study reports. Another report estimates that the worldwide demand for used computers totals 130.7 million PCs, suggesting that U.S. tech discards may serve at least one additional duty station in their life cycles, perhaps on a desk in a foreign country, before being scrapped.

For Now, It’s Up To Us

A large and growing number of discarded computers may be headed to landfills unless a systematic solution emerges. Until then, the most effective action open to individual consumers when it’s time to dispose of old computers is to contact computer providers or recyclers to learn about green alternatives. See the “Recycling Resources” sidebar to find recyclers in your area.

by Michael Border