Almost all houses has a set of computers and monitors from years ago that we do not use. How do our choices in disposing these unused products affect our environment? Let us look at the figures, and look at a way to do our part in saving the world.
Remember those big, old, lunky computer monitors and desktop computers that were so famous a few years back? The ones that you were so excited to get when they first came out? So you ever even wonder what ever happened to them? Ever since LCD monitors and Laptops and Tablets started getting popular, the amount of these old desktop computers still being used today has been getting fewer and fewer. So if they are no longer being used, then where the heck are they? Well, chances are, they ended up either in the trash, burned or landfilled, or they are still stored somewhere in your stock room or warehouse, gathering dust and awaiting the day it sees the light of day, and a repair shop.
Computers from previous generations have accumulated, and around more than 1.5 million computers and computer monitors end up in landfills annually, most of which are the old television sets that we consider as “obsolete” technology already. Those old computer monitors that you threw away came from plastic, glass and metal, and most of these old monitors contain lead. (Around 4-8 pounds per monitor if you were curious) The lead comes from the cathode ray tube (CRT), which is responsible for creating the images you see on your screen. Lead is extremely dangerous and can give you brain or other problems that you normally wouldn’t experience.
To give you an idea of how lead messes with your head… Romans used lead as their construction material in their pipe system to transfer water in their empire. Only the rich and powerful had access to the piping system and the “lead contaminated” water. Well, we all know how that ended (A certain Roman emperor going cuckoo and the burning Rome) By 2004, around 315 million computers were thrown in the landfills, which amounts to about more than a billion pounds of this deadly lead!!
Approximately 300 million computers are produced each year, so the “electronic waste” will just keep adding up if we do not do something about it. The problem is big, but we CAN do something about it, only if we choose to do the proper thing. Consider trading in your old unit when you buy a new one, or just donate your old one to your local donation center or to your government. If donating is not your thing, just drive by to the nearest recycling center and sell it for parts. Don’t store them in your place because they will just wear with age, and you’d get more and more lazy as time goes by. So what are you waiting for? Get moving and save mother earth!
; ?>/images/contact-banner.png)