Losing Sleep

In the spirit of our lecture from last week I am writing a post about computer reuse and recycling. Computers are one of those resources that people seem to trash all to quickly. Some quick facts and figures.

• Only 11% of PCs are recycled; the percentage for televisions and mainframes recycled is lower.¹
• 68 percent of consumers stockpile used or unwanted computer equipment in their homes.²
• Nearly 2 in 10 consumers that disposed of a desktop computer or monitor in the past year threw them in the trash. Fourteen percent of those that disposed of a laptop computer last year threw it in the trash.³

This is A LOT of computers that are being trashed and unused. This is really unfortunate because although computers can become too slow or lack the memory to run the newest, fastest applications, they can still be functional and their processing power can be put to good use. Ask yourself what you do with your computer. Many people find that all they really do is email and get on the internet. If this is the case then why do you need that newer, faster, bigger, better computer. Why not purchase a two or three year old computer if all your doing is writing papers and checking email?

One thing we can do is recycle our old computers. I’m not specifically talking about salvaging the resources in a computer, I’m talking about refitting computers and using functional parts to build new ones. I found two organization in Chicago that do exactly that. One is Computers for Schools. Computers for schools is a non-profit organization that accepts old computer and then refurbishes them and sells them for 1/3 the cost of a new one (I couldn’t find any prices).

Another organization that has a similar mission but is also promoting free software is FreeGeek Chicago. FreeGeeks goal is to “provide functional computers, education, internet access and job skills training to those who want them.”⁴ FreeGeek Chicago not only accepts old computers, but they also accept volunteers. They also have a deal in which if you volunteer for 20 hours you can earn a FreekBox (a rebuilt computer). You can buy computers from FreeGeek for $50 (What a deal!). All computers provided by FreeGeek run on a version of the Ubuntu Linux operating system.

1. From the Women’s Learning Partnership. [↩]
2. HP Fact Sheet, Earth Day 2005. http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/environment/earthday-fs.pdf [↩]
3. From Consumer Report’s Greener Choices. [↩]
4. From FreeGeek/about. [↩]