# Where your computer goes to die.



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 24, 2015)

*New report says 41 million metric tonnes of electronic waste worth a staggering £34billion was discarded in 2014*

*Countries illegally export 'millions of tonnes' of e-waste annually to African nations like Ghana, campaigners say*

*Shocking photographs from its capital Accra show thousands of discarded appliances in huge, filthy landfill sites*

*Some contain toxic materials like lead and mercury which damage environment and people sifting through them*







Do we really care about what happens with our old stuff, or is it another case of out of sight, out of mind.

about 2 minutes of reading, a vid and pictures.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ld-PCs-laptops-microwaves-fridges-phones.html


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## dorsetknob (Apr 24, 2015)

We have 
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/tpus-nostalgic-hardware-club.108251/

where old Tech goes to Pasture


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## AsRock (Apr 24, 2015)

There are places that break it down to the metals although as i understand it. it's expensive to do.


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## Batou1986 (Apr 24, 2015)

Until countries like Ghana stop importing that trash all the complaining and public awareness in the world will do nothing, its not like someone is secretly piling it all up while they sleep they ask for this shit.

edit: I just wanted to make my point on this clear as some people might get the wrong impression.
I don't support or condone what anyone is doing in this situation but sorting this e-waste is the only income these people have.
Until you can provide them with some other way of providing for themselves they are not going to tell the guy importing it illegally  to stop.
In fact they will likely help to continue these practices.


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## Caring1 (Apr 25, 2015)

Batou1986 said:


> Until countries like Ghana stop importing that trash all the complaining and public awareness in the world will do nothing, its not like someone is secretly piling it all up while they sleep they ask for this shit.


True, they get paid to accept it, and people make a living off it, scavenging through it for anything they can use or sell.
Tipping laws here prevent the disposal of electronic waste, as well as the removal of goods from tip sites.


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## [Ion] (Apr 25, 2015)

I for one know that my scrap electronics go to a recycler here in Durham that handles things.  Much better than Ghana, given that we have environmental and labor laws here


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## MrGenius (Apr 25, 2015)

I sleep easy at night because I know what happens to my stuff. 

Where I live it's illegal to throw most of it away. You must take it(almost all computer related e-waste) to a recycling center. And from the time that it arrives there, it's tracked until processed into usable raw materials.

Oregon E-cycles!


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## FordGT90Concept (Apr 25, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Do we really care about what happens with our old stuff, or is it another case of out of sight, out of mind.


I do which is why I despise this "new phone every 1-2 years" mentality most Americans have.  It's ridiculous.  


The problem with recyclers is it is nigh impossible to know if they are actually recycling them or if they're shipping it off to a landfill elsewhere.  There was a study done a while ago that showed most in the USA exported it.

Some relevenent info:
Beware Of Fake Recycling
As e-waste piles up, disposal issues grow

Most of my eWaste goes to Millenium Recycling.




AsRock said:


> There are places that break it down to the metals although as i understand it. it's expensive to do.


Some facilities remove chips from circuit boards and resell them.


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## Jetster (Apr 25, 2015)

I go about 7 or 8 years on a phone. I just got my first smart phone. I have a friend that uses a Nokia from the 90s and pays $56 a year for cell service. I pay $30 a month from Republic Wireless for unlimited data 3 G


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 25, 2015)

I think this quote is the pertinent point in the article

_Transporting broken or expired electronics to Africa is illegal but brokers exploit a loophole by fraudulently labelling the items as reusable, according to the Head of United Nations University who believes Africa is becoming 'a graveyard for e-waste'. _


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## Frick (Apr 25, 2015)

Smartphone =! phone. They are the same in the same way a TI calculator is a laptop. And if you have an old smartphone and try a new one and realize how different they are it's hard to argue against the upgrade. Every two years is too often if you have a high end phone though, but by then the battery will have problems and it's not certain you can replace it easily, so you just renew your contract and get a shiny new phone. It's simple and wasteful, as capitalism demands.

BTW I read an article about e-waste in Asia years ago that reported on people sitting in street corners melting stuff and sorting metals based on the smell of the smoke.


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## DinaAngel (Apr 27, 2015)

computer heaven where frequency doesn't matter and performance doesn't either. Everyone loves u and all gpus and cpus are polished and petted and kissed.


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## FordGT90Concept (Apr 27, 2015)

Frick said:


> Smartphone =! phone.


Really no such thing as a cellphone in the USA anymore.  But yeah, there are people that keep their phone for a decade or more but there's also people that are constantly upgrading.  The environmental impact of the latter group is substantially greater than the former group.

I like the rise of prepaid cellular carriers (Cricket, Straighttalk, etc.) in the USA.  People have to absorb the cost of the phone out right so they are aware of the cost of it.  It disincentives frequent upgrading which the contractual carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, MetroPCS, etc.) over-promote.


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## jaggerwild (Apr 27, 2015)

As someone posted, they ask for it. I got a $20 phone i bought almost three years ago.


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## qubit (Apr 27, 2015)

Oh yeah, I've seen about this before and it's pretty scandalous, with the way these poverty-stricken people are exploited and abused into doing this illegal work being perhaps the worst part of it.

Unfortunately, even giving your used computer parts to a reputable recycling company is likely to end up here.

It'll all about the money, baby.


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## R-T-B (Apr 27, 2015)

jaggerwild said:


> As someone posted, they ask for it. I got a $20 phone i bought almost three years ago.





> _Transporting broken or expired electronics to Africa is illegal but brokers exploit a loophole by fraudulently labelling the items as reusable, according to the Head of United Nations University who believes Africa is becoming 'a graveyard for e-waste'. _



If it's against their laws they aren't asking for it.


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## qubit (Apr 27, 2015)

R-T-B said:


> If it's against their laws they aren't asking for it.


Bribary and corruption - the usual shit found in those countries and their honest citizens are always getting a raw deal over it.


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## micropage7 (Apr 27, 2015)

i may keep it some, just for reminds me that i ever had it before
and i dunno, i still keep my old hdd. i just think that i may use it for something


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 27, 2015)

The city of Guiyu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiyu_(town)  is home to 5,500 businesses devoted to processing discarded electronics, known as e-waste. According to local websites, the region dismantles 1.5 million pounds of junked computers, cell phones and other devices a year.

http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1870162_1822148,00.html

Guess what is happening here?  pic 3 in the link.


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## jboydgolfer (Apr 27, 2015)

this is one of the reasons I havent had a Cell phone since..... '02 'ish. I'm also a miserable anti-social SOB who has never "posted" to face-bork, or tweeted, either. So not all Americans have the "new phone every year mentality". Also, I watched a doc on this, and from what I remembered, it was MOSTLY EU's junk going there. I'm certain US stuff does too, but thats what I think was said in the DOC. I COULD be wrong.


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## dorsetknob (Apr 27, 2015)

I replace my Cell phone   ""AFTER IT HAS DIED""   not because it does not have the latest function / gadget /gizzmo/ crapware
then it is Replaced with functionality in mind


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 27, 2015)

I confess to being a phone slut...however i still have every single one.

 I intend to pass them on to my grandchildren, they will then become their "problem"..............sound familiar?


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## dorsetknob (Apr 27, 2015)

Time Machine 20 yrs to the future

FLEA BAY

For Sale or SWAP

Assorted Collection of Vintage Cell/smart phones all working apart from 3 Apple phones ( Dead non replacable Batterys )

Wanted Second hand Coffin  Ashes URN  Will Swap for above


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## micropage7 (Apr 27, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


>


plastic and plastic, why they dont melt them, its tv or monitor bezel, except its the tube or it has some toxic like mercury


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 27, 2015)

@micropage7 

Bantargebang


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## dorsetknob (Apr 27, 2015)

Perhaps @micropage7 could give an on site review / personal perspective

with His own untouched or photoshopped pictures

Indonesians make a living from dump – in pictures. _Bantar Gebang_, a sprawling, mound of Jakarta's rotting rubbish is home for 2,000 families.


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## micropage7 (Apr 27, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> @micropage7
> 
> Bantargebang



yeah i know, bantargebang mostly household waste, yeah indonesian people/goverment has serious problem on that
but back to title, maybe the goverment should push any manufactures to use recycle material to minimize that
and its one package: from the goverment, the policy, people and the manufactures

like samsung uses recycle paper and soy based ink


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## jaggerwild (Apr 30, 2015)

R-T-B said:


> If it's against their laws they aren't asking for it.


looks to me, as they are mining it? did it just fall off a barge? Some one sneak in there country over night? Or are you saying we are the bad guys cause we use phone's? I'm not saying were not, but the people who sell the stuff are just as much to blame as the people who would do said dumping. American's are bombarded with advertising of cell phone sales, I don't guess Radio shake is gonna step up as there going under(chapter 7) but they are selling top of the line Apple I phone for top dollar. Seems to me the companies are not being held responsible, like when you buy new motor oil they make you pay a disposal fee(for the old stuff's removal) even that is a scam!! Big money people getting rich and its not us, just like war. The gov gets rich but we the people do the work, lose our children or minds. Mean while some 1% is grubbing his money away and changing laws to keep you the people away from it.



> this is one of the reasons I havent had a Cell phone since..... '02 'ish. I'm also a miserable anti-social SOB who has never "posted" to face-bork, or tweeted, either. So not all Americans have the "new phone every year mentality". Also, I watched a doc on this, and from what I remembered, it was MOSTLY EU's junk going there. I'm certain US stuff does too, but thats what I think was said in the DOC. I COULD be wrong.



 Plus every time you use a cell phone big brother is watching and listening, oh they call it homeland security. Other nations call it killing innocent people, but who am I! You ever see the video Collateral Damage(not for the faint of heart!)? Its some crazy chit man, woke my eyes up to reality......


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## R-T-B (Apr 30, 2015)

> looks to me, as they are mining it? did it just fall off a barge? Some one sneak in there country over night



Close enough.  They are falsifying customs documents, if you read the quote.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 30, 2015)

According to the Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based environmental group, an estimated 500 shipping containers with a load equal in volume to 400,000 computer monitors or 175,000 large TV sets enter Lagos each month. As much as 75 percent of some shipments are classified as e-waste.

"The reasons for this huge influx of e-waste into Lagos are not far fetched," Peter Ejiofor, a Lagos dealer in second hand computers told IPS. "Lagos has a large sea port where the items easily slip through, also there is a huge appetite for cheap second hand imported electronics items in the city," he says.

But Lagos is paying a huge environmental cost for these cheap items. Most of the imported items get discarded almost as soon as they are shipped into Lagos. "E-waste is a major problem, it's a major challenge, we have a pile up of them," Ola Oresanya, managing director of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), told IPS.

With no facilities to recycle e-wastes, they are indiscriminately discarded around the city. Some of them end up in dumpsites where they are burnt. Environmentalists have expressed concern about this. "It is a very worrisome situation because components from these electronic items are very hazardous," Leslie Adogame of the Nigerian Environmental Society told IPS.

He is particularly concerned about the health implication. "There is open burning. Some components produce a lot of particulate matters," he says. "People around the areas where the wastes are being burnt have to be suffering from chest-related diseases because they inhale a lot of noxious substances," he added.

Oresanya says LAWMA is concerned about the dangers posed by e-waste. Education has been one of the main actions taken by the authorities to curb the menace. "We have been educating people against burning e-wastes. We believe they would change," he says.

Inter Press Service


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## jaggerwild (Apr 30, 2015)

WOW!


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Apr 30, 2015)

The video below is something put together from 4-8 different documentaries totalling over 80 minutes, to use as a short presentation to quickly show people the problems with e-waste.

5 minute vid, well worth a watch.











I think it demonstrates how we should be dealing with this stuff here, not shipping it anywhere.


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## v12dock (Apr 30, 2015)

I disposed of over 1 Ton of electronic waste this weekend at a place I work


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## AsRock (Apr 30, 2015)

Jetster said:


> I go about 7 or 8 years on a phone. I just got my first smart phone. I have a friend that uses a Nokia from the 90s and pays $56 a year for cell service. I pay $30 a month from Republic Wireless for unlimited data 3 G




Any chance he pays more as ads will not work on his phone ?, a lot of company's charge less for a service if they store those lovely cookies super-cookies and a like. In fact don't Version charge +$30 not to track and such.

Good on him anyways, a phone should stay a phone.


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## Jetster (Apr 30, 2015)

Its not a smart phone so no ads


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## AsRock (Apr 30, 2015)

Jetster said:


> Its not a smart phone so no ads



Oops read it wrong, was thinking he payed $56 a month.


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## scevism (Apr 30, 2015)

My computer dies in my loft.


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## NormanStokes (Jun 28, 2015)

If you throw  your e-waste in recycle bin then its 100% recycle. There is no company in USA who doing fake recycling.


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## R-T-B (Jun 28, 2015)

NormanStokes said:


> If you throw  your e-waste in recycle bin then its 100% recycle. There is no company in USA who doing fake recycling.



Except most USA recycling at home is plastic and paper and maybe glass.  Not "whole unprocessed CPU"


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## Solaris17 (Jun 28, 2015)

I thought most peoples PCs go to die at @Mussels place. He has a thing for buying shit off of craigslist doesn't he?


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## twilyth (Jul 3, 2015)

We pay Pennsylvania to take our garbage since NJ is basically out of landfill space.  Does that make PA a third world country?


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