As countries are developing, they are beginning to contribute to the world e-waste levels. Greenpeace says that by 2010 there will be 178 million new computer users in China and 80 million in India. People no longer hang onto their gadgets very long: In 1997 the average lifespan of computers was six years; in 2005 it was only two years. And not just PCs have become throwaway items: the average lifespan of a cell phone is now just 18 months. The reason for throwing out electronic items is often not flaws in the hardware but changes in the software. Microsoft’s Vista operating system, for example, is blamed for rendering million of computers obsolete since they can’t run on the new system.
Sending used electronics to landfills is being strongly discouraged, and 80% of global e-waste is now going to Asia. The EPA reports that for companies in the developed world it is up to ten times cheaper to export the waste to places such as India and China than to deal with it at home. The European Union has laws prohibiting exportation of e-waste and there are international laws which even China has ratified. (The only notable country which hasn’t ratified is the U.S.) But the developed world often ships its e-waste using labels of charitable and reuse programs. In one Chinese town 80% of its inhabitants work at e-waste recovery – using their hands to disassemble the machines plus open-air burning which emits a variety of toxins into the air. They throw stuff not recyclable into the river.
Two options to all this are workable domestic recycling programs and using less harmful materials in the manufacture of electronics. Both Sony and Dells have been criticized for not offering recycling programs for their own products in the U.S. while doing so in the EU. However, Sony recently said it will open recycling centers across the U.S. where it will even accept competitor’s products for a fee. There is also an effort to make electronics more eco-friendly to match a new industry standard known as the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. It ranks IT products based on their level of environmentally dangerous materials such as lead, mercury, PVC and cadmium. During a six-month period last year, around 36 million such computers and monitors were sold by 21 different manufacturers – a promising start.
Big Holiday Sales of Electronics Expected – Retailers of home electronics should do well this Christmas season. The fastest-moving items will likely be compact personal gadgets – mobile phones, digital music players, digital cameras. The largest items will be plasma and LCD video display, due to the trend of such flat screens falling in price. Then there are the components feeding those flat screens: hi-def players, receivers, media centers. And don’t forget the up to seven speakers plus subwoofer. This also happens to be the first time all the major game manufacturers will have new generation equipment and media.
