If there is one thing a modern Creative Firm is associated with these days it is shiny computers running the latest in GUI-driven software. Application bundles such as Adobe’s Creative Suite that are the standard backbone of a Creative’s digital palette require hardware that can match their processor-intensive appetites and this translates to a hardware turnover cycle that is often as short as 18 months.
Once that new piece of electronic goodness is placed on a Creative’s desk and they are bathed in the warm glow of new LCD technology, a user’s previously much loved (and occasionally hated) computer disappears into some sort of generally-perceived netherworld where some representative of the IT Profession becomes a version of a digital Ferryman paddling it across an electronic River Styx never to be seen again…
Unfortunately that computer, as well as accompanying peripherals, wires and other production paraphernalia are often simply relocated to a less conspicuous location in the workplace where they quietly find their places amongst other discarded detritus. Sometimes there is a genuine intention to “repurpose” or “donate” this equipment but all too often these possibilities fall victim to the insidious villainy of our busy schedules and inevitably critical mass is achieved with regards to how much old gear can be tolerated.
What to do with it all? Well, there is only course to follow this day and age and that is to recycle. A quick google search will reveal a plethora of receiving entities that will take used CPUs, wiring, electronics and even that old CRT being saved “just in case.” Unfortunately with these ever expanding solutions to the disposal of eWaste there is an unethical demographic who promote themselves as “eWaste Recyclers” but who in fact, ship the materials to third world countries to the highest bidder only to end up in giant heaps picked over by poverty-stricken children. The image of that new laptop in its purchasers eyes might be a a little less glossy if they knew that their old one was potentially being “cooked” over a fire in an African or East Asian village by a child hoping to extract tiny pieces of precious metals as the components partially melt in a toxic cancer-inducing cloud of smoke.
The good news is that with so many choices and so many new devices to find those choices with, there is no real need to have to wonder where all of our old gear is going. Many of these options also offer data-wiping services so you can be assured that inadvertent data leaks via forgotten hardware will not occur.
EPA: This link provides location information about electronics recycling programs in your area.
http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/live.htm
eWaste stats by country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste_by_country
