Latest Entries »
The electronics takeback coalition recently published an interesting an informative report on the world e-waste situation, called “FAQs on Global E‐Waste Dumping.” Here are some excerpts from that report. To read the full report, you can view it online by clicking the link above.
Is American e‐waste really exported to developing countries?
Recycling industry leaders estimate that 50% ‐80% of all electronic waste collected in the US for recycling is not really recycled at all, but is exported via container ship to developing countries, particularly in Asia and Africa. Since the U.S. government does not even keep track of the volume of e‐waste exported, this figure is an educated estimate and the best that currently exists. Primary destinations in Asia are: China, India, Pakistan, Philippines, and Vietnam. Primary destinations in Africa are Ghana and Nigeria.
What happens to e‐waste exported to these countries?
Exports to Asia
In Asia, typically, the old computers, printers, monitors etc. end up in thousands of “backyard” recycling operations where some of the poorest laborers in the country disassemble and process them using crude, unsafe methods – like breaking open CRT monitors with hammers, “cooking” circuit boards to remove chips , sweeping printer toner dust from cartridges and using dangerous acid baths to extract gold. Workers rarely have any protective equipment, like gloves or masks. And they are unaware of the risks of contamination to which they are exposed. The operations have completely contaminated whole villages with some of the highest levels of pollutants ever recorded. Studies of China’s Guiyu region – where a large volume of e‐waste is processed ‐ found that more than 80% of the children have lead poisoning, the water is unsafe to drink, and the workers have extraordinarily high levels of toxic fire retardants in their bodies.
Exports to Africa
In Africa container loads of computer scrap arrive from the US in such port cities as Lagos, Nigeria loaded with an average of 75% unusable junk, and 25% resalable used electronic equipment for sale in the marketplace. The junk ends up being burned in dumps, sending plumes of very dangerous pollutants into the local environment.
Is sounds primitive, but isn’t it still recycling?
No. They are removing and selling the metals, but at a great cost to human health. The rest of the material – the plastics and glass, does not usually have resale value in these markets; it is treated as trash. Here’s what happens:
Burning plastics. The plastic casings from TVs and computers which contain heavy metals and brominated flame retardants are often burned, not in controlled incinerators, but in open piles, with no emission controls. Burning these plastics gives off deadly dioxin and furans, heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a mixture of some of the most harmful pollutants on earth, which the workers and nearby residents are breathing in on a regular basis. Piles of computer wires are also burned in open fires to recover the copper found inside.
Dumping the leaded glass. While there are places where leaded glass from CRTs can be properly smelted, that’s not what happens to e‐waste sent to the “informal sector” in developing countries. For examples, in Nigeria, CRT tubes are cracked to remove the copper yoke, releasing toxic phosphor dust, and the rest is simply dumped.
Cooking circuit boards. Circuit boards are heated in shallow pans or over open flames to melt the lead solder to allow the removal of chips, exposing the workers to lead fumes. There are no emissions controls to limit exposure.
Acid Stripping. Chips are then often put in acid baths to remove the small amounts of gold. This process is very dangerous to unprotected workers, and releases toxic gases. Finally, following the process the acid‐hydrocarbon residues are simply dumped into nearby streams and rivers.
Does e‐waste export pose a national security problem?
One little‐known horror of electronic waste exportation to China is that it provides the primary feedstock globally for the microprocessor counterfeiting market. This is a new form of counterfeiting with significant national security implications for the US. Workers in China pluck the chips off of circuit boards, and refinish them (and sometimes repaint them) with markings claiming that the chips are new when they can be more than 10 years old. They pass them off as special military grade products when they are just consumer‐grade, coming from the old computers we exported to China. They are then sold into the supply chain, and are very difficult to detect as being fraudulent. They are purchased by the Pentagon, so they can then end up in NASA spacecraft, commercial aircraft computer systems, military hardware such as fighter jet computers, missile navigation systems, etc. A Naval Air Systems Command manager told Business Week that the problem is so prevalent, “we are having field failures regularly within our weapon systems—and in almost every weapon system.”
See Business Week’s frightening investigative article and video, “Dangerous Fakes: How counterfeit, defective computer components from China are getting into U.S. warplanes and ships.”
Does exported e‐waste have anything to do with the lead in children’s products from China?
Yes, scientists and journalists have documented a “Circle of Poison” where lead from e‐waste exported to China returns to us in children’s jewelry. Lead has historically been used for solder on circuit boards in electronics. Circuit boards removed from electronic products sent to China for disassembly are heated in woks or over open flames in primitive backyard recycling operations. The melted solder is removed, dumped into a bucket and later sold to local metals companies. The Wall Street Journal documented these metals being sold to Chinese makers of children’s jewelry, which is imported to the US and sold at dollar stores.
Changing the way the world looks at electronic waste!
Just to let everyone know, we’ll be updating a lot of things regarding our web presence and social networking in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned and remember to recycle your electronics!
Just to let everyone know, we’ll be updating a lot of things regarding our web presence and social networking in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned and remember to recycle your electronics!
A study entitled “Globalization of E-waste and the Consequence of Development: A Case Study of China” by Jennifer Joines was published in Vol. 2 of the Journal of Social Justice recently. It’s a fascinating and enlightening study, and we recommend that our customers and supporters give it a read.
You can read the study on-line by clicking on this link.
Recycle your electronics locally to avoid exacerbating this problem!
If you’re in the southern California area, contact EZPC Recycle for all your e-waste disposal needs, including FREE pickups for qualifying businesses!
We’ll be relocating our wearhouse and office to a new location this week, so update your rolodex: 2518 5th St Santa Ana, CA 92703
Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog smack dab in the middle of (what I hope) is a very busy and productive work week to keep that clock mindlessly ticking away to the last hour before you “bounce”. So let’s get down to Gmail!
New Features:
- First off you will never have to worry about leaving the left hand side navigation panel all by its lonesome because of the newly enhanced scrolling panel! Whether your trying to chat with friends or deleting messages, this panel now (finally) scrolls with you.
- At the top right we have a neat little gear icon that, when clicked, actually changes the spacing in between letters to three different sizes. This ingenious concept is actually “geared” (get it?) towards making the view for Gmail much better if your on a device other than a computer.
- Even Conversation View got a facelift for the new Gmail layout. messages from your FAV friends are now accompanied by their profile pics on the left hand side making message viewing much easier this time around. Additionally, small little grey icons have replaced the myriad of options available per convo making it slightly more time consuming when looking for the option you want but does add a much more sleek look compared to the old layout.
- Not only is the layout being revamped for Gmail but the search box is too. Have a message that you’re looking for dating back to November 12, 2010? Just click the drop down arrow when you type in the document name and filter the search by date! Yes Google is spoiling us rotten with these benefits.
This about sums up the Gmail additions and cool new facelift it got from the older style. I personally love the color green but maybe later on they will include a change color feature! Or maybe they already have…..
Friday is coming up!
-EZPC Recycling, Inc. CEO, Miguel Bautista Mzuniga@EZPCRecycle.com
Recycle the EZ Way! With EZPC Recycle.
Hopefully this is not going to continue for much longer (at least for Apple) but there is an apparent issue involving the iPhone 4S and its battery. According to way too many iPhone users, the brand spanking new and magnificent iPhone 4S cannot last longer than an hour before eating up around 15% of the battery life of the phone! Not only does the battery drain ridiculously quick, but charging it overnight is not going to help things. That is exactly what the author of this article tried here.
In order to curb the increasing dissatisfaction being experienced by many new iPhone users, Apple engineers have contacted various users to let them install a tracking file on their iPhones in order to determine what exactly is causing the problem. An upside to all this news is that the problem seems to be a software issue. This means a simple Apple software update would make everything right again in the world of iPhone 4S users. Let’s just hope this problem doesn’t end up being hardware related.
-Over and out.
-EZPC Recycling, Inc. CEO, Miguel Bautista Mzuniga@EZPCRecycle.comRecycle the EZ Way! With EZPC Recycle.
We all know the various problems are smartphones can solve nowadays anywhere from “shazaming” your favorite song to find out what it’s called to typing in your caloric intake to shed more pounds with a diet oriented app. Our phones have evolved into multifunctional devices we rely on MUCH more than we did in the past.
Taking the application concept to a completely higher level is the Android OS for Android phones. Basically the Android platform has really succeeded in creating a developer friendly marketplace for literally anyone wanting to try their hand at developing phone applications using a computer. As a result of such an open ended marketplace with minor fees to Google for selling your app in the Android marketplace, many different and interesting apps have hit “virtual” Droid shelves. Here we are going to break down what InformationWeek feels are the top 10 apps every Droid user should never be without!
Top 10 Android Apps!!!
- Documents To Go. This neat little app makes it possible for you to revise, check AND edit Microsoft Office documents while eating lunch or out of the office. The free version allows the reading of the document but for just $14.95 you could open any .doc file up and actually make edits to it!
- Dolphin Browser HD. Ever tried surfing the internet on a Droid phone? I will admit it was VERY frustrating when I had one. That is also why this second application is sort of bittersweet for me (wish I knew about it sooner!). It is essentially a very well put together browser alternative for all those internet surfers out there (get a tan!). The interface is great and it does really well in succinctly describing the various feeds you want covered.
- Color Flashlight. This application is very cool. Let’s say you are completely stuck in the dark with a power outage or in a drastic situation where you have no access to anything but your Android phone. Well, this app is literally a flashlight. Yes! a flashlight. It illuminates pretty nicely around you and even has different effects and colors to change it to in case you want to be found somewhere and are surrounded by a specific color. With this phone you could change the illuminating light to a contrasting color and voila! Light!
- Gasbuddy. I have actually personally used this app and it is AWESOME! It really does work. basically you either make a profile to let it record where you have been before so it can quickly show you gas prices near your typical haunts OR you can type the zip code your currently in and it pulls up gas stations around you that have gas prices marked by other patrons that checked into that gas station. It’s genius!
- GateGuru. So this is a really interesting app. In case you ever have an international flight or cross county flight you should really get this app. Essentially it takes the confusion out of boarding the right terminals and figuring out which gate you need to go to. It lists gates, terminals and flight times to make sure you know exactly where you’re going.
- Google Translate. I really want to try this app out of all these other apps the most. So does your group of friends make people think you’re all coming from a UN conference? Well in case you feel a schism between you and these intercultural buddies of yours you can actually use this app to converse with them in their own languages in real time. It is an actual translator and it actually works. Also works with text messages.
- History Eraser. This is one app I could most definitely use! If you ever have issues with privacy and worry when giving away your old phones for others to use (or for money) people will accidentally stumble upon a naughty text message history log or confidential codes for America’s Nuclear Silos. Then this app might do you some good. It erases everything I mean EVERYTHING from your data history on your phone. From history logs to the frequently called list nothing will stick around in the bowels of your smartphone to become subject to nosy peepers sticking their noses where they don’t belong.
- Kindle & Nook. By now most people must know what these two little cool gadgets are. For those who don’t the Kindle and Nook are tablets used specifically for reading books on the go. You purchase the book electronically and can load it up on the Nook/Kindle and save it with virtual bookmarks. It’s also lit so you can read anywhere without any problems. Well this app is like a Kindle/Nook adapter for your smartphone. Download the app and don’t worry about purchasing the e-reader!
- Lookout Mobile Security. I never thought smartphones could be attacked by malware but I guess that only makes sense considering you can connect to the internet on these phones and the OS is made up of a bunch of code. So it also makes sense these phones should be protected by antivirus apps. Well Lookout Mobile Security seems to be one of the better apps out there and it not only scans for spyware/malware but also backs up your information and manages privacy settings all on one dashboard. Exceptional.
- Touchdown! No this is not a football app. Although I’m sure there must be one very similar in name to this one that is. This is actually an app for better management of Microsoft Exchange. It allows you to access your email accounts while logging into Microsoft Exchange without having to use any Android emails. It seems to be the most literal translation one can come across on the Android of the Microsoft Exchange program.
Well that sums up the most beneficial, coolest apps on the market to date! Hopefully all of you find use for at least a few or one of these handy applications! If you want more information or would like to read the original article please click here.
Oh and one more thing HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEN
HAPPPYYY HALLLLOOOOWEEEEEEEEN.
-EZPC Recycling, Inc. CEO, Miguel Bautista Mzuniga@EZPCRecycle.com
