Sur Corporación
Idrc/Panamerica /ICA
International Workshop
“North – South Dialogue on
Computer recycling and refurbishing projects”
5, 6, 7 December de 2005
Santiago, Chile
ABSTRACT
“Grey Line” Recycling in Developed Countries:
Industrial Aspects, Legislative Matters, E-Waste Exportation and Initiatives
Rolando Palacios
Consultant
Executive Summary
1. Introduction
The production of “grey line” waste.1 The accelerated process of storing electronic waste
has forced developed countries (DCs) to take action in order to control, prevent, limit and
correct environmental impacts through the regulation, oversight, and standardization of
related legal and commercial aspects.
The production of electronic waste is internationally known as e-waste. This term is
used to describe electronic applications that have reached the end of their useful life,
including computers, electronic entertainment items, mobile phones, and other items that
have been discarded by their original users. This term covers discarded products that
mainly contain electronic components, such as computers, monitors, televisions, hi-fi
systems, mobile phones, PDAs, game consoles, electronics from industrial sources and
similar items. The main focus of this study is computers and accessories.
This growing accumulation of e-waste at the global level has led DCs to the following
conclusion: e-waste contains ferrous and non-ferrous metals (aluminum, copper, bronze,
stainless steel, lead), plastic, glass and zinc and all of these elements are recyclable.
However, only 11% of the world’s e-waste is recycled (NSC, 1999).2 This is mainly due to
the high price of recycling, which is related to the industry’s failure to design products that
are easy to recycle, the amount of toxic material contained in the waste, the lack of a
system for classifying waste or identifying a final destination, the absence of infrastructure,
and the lack of incentives for producing components according to environmental
standards. As a result, only a small portion of e-waste is recycled.
The ICT industry has spread to every corner of the globe, and there are new actors
with a broad range of information about opportunities to participate in the economic cycle
of the current useful life of computers and accessories. Computers or cell phones, printers,
fax machines, CD-ROMs, etc. have accumulated in domestic life, but this has clearly
become a problem not only because the buildup of these metals is dangerous but also
because there is no place to put them!
The computers that enter the international market form part of the cycle of
obsolescence of computers and components that accumulate in enormous quantities at
both the domestic level and in municipal landfills, thus producing a negative impact on the
environment (Matthews, et al., 1997).
This accumulation of industrial waste of electronic origin has increased in past years
and some of the countries with the largest industrial production (United States and Japan)
have opted to transfer said waste to developing countries in violation of the legal standards
in place in the European Union, including the Basel Convention (BAN-SVTC, 2002:4).
Grey line: computers, peripherals and mobile phones. The purpose of this classification is to distinguish
these items from those that are listed under other colors. These include the white line (refrigerators,
washing machines, dish washers, ovens and stoves) and the brown line (televisions, VCRs, stereos, etc.).
2
Study carried out by the National Safety Council in 1999. The study was led by Stanford Resources, Inc. of
San José, California and was based on data from 123 companies including recyclers, NGOs that accept the
equipment for reconditioning and resale or donation, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and large
corporate users.
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But not everything is negative. There are successful computer recycling initiatives that
take equipment from the local market and send it to schools, social organizations, informal
education programs, community projects, etc. in a manner that is in keeping with current
international and European legislation,
This means that those who participate in social projects can develop abilities in the
following areas:
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






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
Reception of the equipment
Analysis of project components and needs
Recycling
Reuse of computer equipment
Reconversion of computers
Recovery of components
Importation of e-waste
Melting of equipment
Fabrication of microchips
Exportation of microchips
Resale of reconditioned equipment
Assembly of computers according to specific needs
This implies the existence of a social organization such as a company, institution or civil
entity that is clear on the use that it will give to reconverted and reconditioned machines
that are ready to be reinserted into the cycle of supply and demand or given to a sociocommunity organization that looks to incorporate diverse social sectors in to the
information society project.
2. Statistics
Number of New and Obsolete PCs in Main Countries in 2005
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As the figure shows, the volume of obsolescence is enormous in both DCs (United States,
Japan, Germany, England) and developing nations (China, Korea, Brazil, India and
Mexico). As a result, one does not only see the emergence of new actors in the industry in
Asia (China, Korea and India) but also the same effects of technological obsolescence.
Source: Generated by the author on the basis of ITU data: Millennium Indicator: Personal
computers (ITU estimates) and Matthews et al.
3. Legislation and Regulation
The European Union has defined its central strategy through the European Parliament. It
is called the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive. The directive is
accompanied by three other complementary projects:
1) RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances on Electric and Electronic Equipment);
2) EEE (Environmental Conformity of Electric and Electronic Equipment–basically
considering “Life Cycle Design”); and
3) IPP (Integrated Product Policy that develops instruments for promoting “Life Cycle
Design”).
These directives have the following objectives:
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To protect soil, water and air from pollution caused by waste from electric and
electronic equipment;
To reduce the generation of waste and its toxicity;
To achieve the reuse, recycling and valorization of said waste;
To improve the environmental action of all agents involved in the life cycle of
electric and electronic equipment and those involved in the treatment of the same.
The directives anticipate that actions will be taken in the following areas:
o
o
o
o
o
Stimulating prevention. This process must begin with the design of products in a
manner that is consistent with achieving reuse, recycling, valorization and toxicity
reduction as well as the reduction of the impact of their production and use
Establishing manufacturers’ responsibility for ensuring appropriate waste
management
Creating systems for collecting and treating waste
Promoting the creation of treatment plants in order to achieve the reuse, recycling,
valorization and appropriate elimination of the waste
Increased awareness in order to encourage citizens to collaborate in providing
wastes to management systems.
4. Transfer of E-Waste to Developing Countries
The legislation looks to stop negative tendencies in the accumulation of e-waste in
developed countries as well as its exportation.
The concern over old computers increased in February 2002, when the Silicon Valley
Toxics Coalition and Basel Action Network published the report "Exporting Harm-The
High-Tech Trashing of Asia.” The document confirms what ecologists had long suspected:
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“recycling” old computers frequently means discarding components in developing
countries like China, India and Pakistan, where valuable materials are extracted by the
poor using primitive methods that pose health risks. The report estimates that 50-80% of
the e-waste gathered for recycling in the United States is not correctly recycled. Instead,
valuable pieces are extracted and sold and the rest is discarded by foreign buyers. This
process may include burning plastic trash outdoors and exposure to toxic components
such as lead dust. According to the report, open-air burning, acid baths and the discarding
of toxins lead to earth pollution and expose men, women and children to these materials.
In other words, this process is poisoning Asia’s poorest communities.
5. Initiatives of ICT Industries
Several initiatives have been implemented in order to reduce negative tendencies in the
market and generate best practices in the industry, which has begun to cooperate in this
effort through the use of recycled material in the manufacturing of new products. The first
companies to follow this tendency were IBM and Hewlett Packard, which began to
manufacture computers and peripherals with 25% recycled plastic. The HP recycling
project has demonstrated that economies can be brought to the industries and that it is
possible to maintain a standard of quality. It is estimated that the company will use 5%
recycled plastic during the initial phases of the program and that the percentage will
increase as the public gets more involved in the program. Companies such as AT&T,
Digital, Xerox and UNISYS have created their own recovery programs.
(See http://www.estrucplan.com.ar/Articulos/reduccion.asp.)
Apple Computers created the Computer Electronic Recycling Program, which looks to
apply the take-back (return to origin) program through which Apple takes over the
administration of the product, that is, the management of properly disposing of the item at
the end of its useful life. Apple’s concept is that the administration of the product means
that all parts play a role in the production, sale or use of Apple products as well as in the
handling of Apple products at the end of their life cycle (Source:
http://www.recycleapc.com/apple/index.asp.)
Regional Computer Recycling, a company based in New York state, recycles PCs,
printers and monitors using regulations that force the buyer of technological products to
obtain certification of the final DEC C7 disposal, for which they charge $10-15 per user.
There are discounts depending on the type of computer. For example, a Pentium with less
than 133 mhz can bring $2-6. They have plans to work with large organizations, NGOs
and schools. (Source: http://regionalcomputerrecycling.com/.)
6. Citizen Initiatives
There are numerous citizen initiatives that respond to the need to reuse computers and
components that reach the end of their useful life.
For example, Computer Take Back is a U.S. campaign that looks to protect the health
and welfare of electronics users, workers and communities where electronics are
produced and discarded. The organization asks manufacturers of electronics products and
the owners of the brands to assume full responsibility for the life cycle of their products.
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The Computer Take Back Campaign is based on Extended Product Responsibility
(EPR) as the policy tool for promoting the production and sustainable consumption of all
products with a circuit board. The campaign focuses on establishing EPR for PCs. EPR
will improve the next generation of solid waste and toxic materials, promote the
manufacture of cleaner computers, and contain the flow of e-waste by encouraging
manufacturers to take responsibility for their waste, investing the cost in corporate funds,
and
eliminating
the
use
of
toxic
substances.
(Source:
http://www.computertakeback.com/about/index.cfm.)
Computer Take Back dialogues with five main companies in the field (Apple, Dell
Computer Corp., Gateway Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., and IBM), encouraging them to
increase recycling efforts and reduce the use of toxic materials during the manufacturing
process. The main goals are to ensure that companies assume responsibility for recycling,
disassembling and discarding their products once they reach the end of their useful lives
and to promote change in the design of the materials in order to facilitate recycling
(source: http://www.asyousow.org/computerrecycle.htm).
Another initiative is Recupel (http://www.recupel.be/), a Belgian NGO that coordinates
computer recycling with municipal associations, neighborhood groups and networks of
retailers in order to take advantage of the take-back that is has been in effect since June of
2001.
Manufacturers and importers of electric and electronic equipment founded Recupel with
the support of regional Belgium governments. Its mandate covers the organization of:
• collection
• classification
• treatment
• recycling of electric and electronic waste (WEEE) in Belgium.
Its purpose is to ensure that discarded equipment is effectively recycled, thus
contributing to a better environment. In order to achieve this, Recupel collaborates with
certified organizations with experience in the ecological treatment of discarded material.
Collection activities are carried out in close collaboration with retailers and community and
municipal associations, and special WEEE receptacles are available at collection points. In
addition, Recupel informs consumers, raises awareness, and supports regional
governments in supervising the results. Care is also taken to inform the public of members’
prevention efforts as well as those of manufacturers and importers of applications.
Works Cited
Matthews, et al. (1997), “Disposition and End-of-Life Options for Personal Computers,”
Green Design Initiative Technical Report #97-10, Carnegie Mellon University, July 7.
Naciones Unidas (1989), “Convenio de Basilea sobre el Control de los Movimientos
Transfronterizos de los Desechos Peligrosos y su Eliminación”, Naciones Unidas.
The Basel Action Network (BAN) - Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) (2002),
Exporting Harm. The High-Tech Trashing of Asia, BAN-SVTC, Seattle.
VI Congreso Nacional de Medio Ambiente, (2002), “Documento Final. GT7. Gestión de los
residuos eléctricos y electrónicos”, 25-29 de noviembre, Madrid, pp 1-40.
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