U.S. firms' recycling criticized
By Rachel Konrad
Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. — U.S. technology companies lag foreign rivals in reducing hazardous materials in electronics and encouraging recycling, while American workers involved in recycling are exposed to too many toxins, an advocacy group says.
Associated Press
In its third annual report card, the Computer TakeBack Campaign assigned poor or failing grades to Hewlett-Packard Co., Micron Technology Inc. and Gateway Inc.
Dillon Roberts from the Texas Campaign for the Environment carries a used computer monitor outside a high-tech trade show in Las Vegas. U.S. tech companies are being urged to reduce hazardous materials in their products, and an advocacy group says they are slow to comply.
The study, published online last week after research by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, accuses U.S. companies of being slow to reduce "e-waste," including lead, polyvinyl chloride and other hazardous materials used in computer manufacturing.
The new report came down especially hard on Texas-based Dell Computer Corp. for dealing with a U.S. government contractor, UNICOR, which employs prison inmates to recycle outdated computers.
According to the Computer TakeBack Campaign, "high-tech chain gangs" are not guaranteed the safety protections needed to ensure protection against e-waste.
Dell spokeswoman Michele Glaze defended the contract with UNICOR, which is paid by dozens of companies and government agencies to have federal inmates recycle electronics, wash laundry, make toner cartridges, stamp metal and perform other jobs.
Glaze said the lower wages earned by inmates allow Dell to recycle computers inexpensively. Owners of obsolete Dell machines pay shipping costs to return their computers but do not have to pay any additional costs.
"We are as concerned about this issue as the Computer TakeBack Campaign is," Glaze said. "We don't want people to throw away their computers."
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and another group reported last year that as much as 80 percent of electronic waste collected for recycling in the United States was shipped to Asia, mainly China, India and Pakistan — exposing workers to several poisons — despite a 1994 convention banning the export of hazardous waste from rich to poor countries.
Environmentalists also worry that with the popularity of new liquid crystal display technology, which is sharper and more energy efficient than traditional cathode ray tube monitors, an increasing number of old monitors are ending up in the trash.
The National Safety Council estimates the United States will be awash in 500 million defunct computers and monitors by 2007. The report said less than 10 percent of outdated computer products will be refurbished or recycled.
