lixo eletronico

O Centro de Computação Eletrônica (CCE) da USP contará com o apoio de participantes do S-Lab (Laboratório de Sustentabilidade) da Sloan School do Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), nos EUA, para o desenvolvimento de um Plano para a Cadeia de Transformação de Resíduos de Informática, que visa o reaproveitamento e reciclagem de materiais de informática como hard disks, drives e placas, entres outros, os chamados e-waste (lixo eletrônico).

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is growing rapidly given the faster rate of obsolesce of electronic equipment. The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA) is studying the controversial issues of e-waste disposal, which implies both risks and opportunities on a global scale.

Esse video mostra as irresponsabilidades das empresas de eletrônicos. Por enquanto, não há muita preocupação para reciclar os descarte da indústria. O greenpeace fala:

En el mundo se generan entre 20 y 50 millones de toneladas de basura electrónica anuales. Entre el 50% y el 80% de esta chatarra tecnológica acaba en ciudades-vertedero de China o en otros lugares de Pakistán, India y Nigeria.

In Guiyu, China, the electronics recycling industry has destroyed the ground water and lead poisoning is effecting young children due to the overall mess created by this lucrative sweatshop industry.

The high tech boom has brought with it a new type of waste – electronic waste, a category that barely existed 20 years ago. Now e-waste represents the biggest and fastest growing manufacturing waste. The black and white TV turned to colour, the basic mobile phone needed a camera, personal organizer and music, and who wants last year’s computer when it can’t handle the latest software?

What would happen if manufacturers were responsible for the disposal of their used-up products? The Computer Take Back Campaign (CTBC), a coalition of environmental groups across the United States, hopes that the result would be both a national recycling network and the removal of hazardous materials like lead, mercury, and brominated flame retardants from products so that companies would not have to worry about them later. The CTBC has been promoting this idea with limited success since 2002, but this year it finally seems on the brink of acceptance.