Economic Recession Turns the Electronic Industry Green

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/greener-tech-is.html

Manufacturers of electronics are turning to recycling used electronic devices from iPods to printers to recoup some of their finical lose. Old computers have valuable gold, silver copper, aluminum and other valuable recyclables in them. Sadly the electronics reason to turn to recycling is because it is more profitable, not because it is better for the environment. Despite their backwards reasons recycling is good for their image. "Going green" is all the rage and it is beneficial for the environment.

Dell, LG and Sony have partnered up with recycling facilities and started take back programs. Their costumers are supposed to give their computer or other electronic device back to the company so that its heavy metals are reused in a new generation of electronic devices.

In the forefront of the recycling cause is Apple. It tags its latest line of Macbooks "the greenest Macbook ever". Although it makes Steve Jobs sound awfully caring, the recycling is as much for Apple's benefit as it is for the environment. Apple is saving money by reducing the cost of recycling and paying less for old materials than if they were to by freshly mined metals.

The recycling facilities divide old electronics into parts and sell the plastic, and metal to manufacturers. it is much cheaper for the manufactures to by these used materials. It has been estimated that recycling goods could result in up to a 4 to 1 costs savings.

A quote that demonstrates the industry's relationship to recycling is:
"I don't think these companies would be lobbying [greener tech] unless there was a financial incentive," Harrell said. "It's not altruistic, and ultimately we don't care. We want the [cleaner] results, so if they're able to make money off of this ... it's a win-win."

In Europe an act called Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive Act requires companies to take their old used products back and recycle them, so that absolutely nothing is wasted. In America the Environmental Protection Agency passed a law prohibiting the exportation of televisions and computer monitors. This is very important, because both of these contain high amount of poisonous waste that would be very dangerous if exported to developing countries such as China, India, and Nigeria, where workers do not have any safety
precautions.