More eco-hysteria.
Clyde
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Joe Fjelstad
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 1:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] A new plan to recycle old PCs may forestall regulation
Give us your tired computers
Jan 27th 2005
From The Economist print edition
A new plan to recycle old PCs may forestall regulation
THE computer industry is built on the assumption that PCs and electrical
devices are replaced every few years. It is a strategy that leaves tons
of
electronic junk in its wake. Over 130,000 PCs are replaced every day in
America
alone, and only a tenth or so are recycled. Ingredients such as cadmium,
mercury
and lead can do terrible things to people and places. In Europe, such
e-waste is
the fastest growing type of refuse, accounting for 8% of all municipal
rubbish.
Regulators have taken note. In California, legislation to levy a
surcharge on
computer sales to defray recycling costs took effect this month. (A
European
Union directive in 2003 requires equipment-makers to recycle, but it has
not
yet been implemented in national laws.) Manufacturers such as IBM, Dell
and HP
have been trying to deflect further legislation by introducing their own
recycling programmes. But they have had limited success-partly because
they tend to
charge for recycling unwanted machines. Apple's price for taking back
one of
its computers in America is $30.
Now eBay, the world's leading online auction business, has come up with
an
innovative way to encourage people to sell, donate or recycle their old
machines
over the internet. A web-based program "reads" the redundant computer's
components and gives its specifications (like its memory and processor
speed).
Owners can then ascertain the value of their old PC, put it up for sale
and get a
special mailing kit to simplify shipping. The site also makes it easy to
donate a PC to charity or get it to a nearby recycler.
The scheme is no altruistic act of corporate social responsibility. It
began
as an attempt by Patrick Jabal, manager of the site's computer and
networking
category (which does $2.5 billion-worth of transactions a year), to drum
up
more business.
Watching people's buying and selling patterns on eBay's site, Mr Jabal,
an
entrepreneur with an MBA from Harvard Business School, noticed an unmet
demand
for cheap, old PCs. Though they were plentiful in the closets of eBay
users,
listing and selling them was problematic. So, in order to increase their
supply
on the site, he set out to overcome the difficulties that users
had-often no
more than an inability to remember the vital statistics of the machine
they had
been using.
Then he stumbled on the issue of waste and realised that the company
could do
even more. "It was a way to meet a business objective, help the
environment,
and help confused consumers," he says. It may also turn out to be a
clever
market-based way to avoid more regulation.
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