Recycling over Reuse: A National Disgrace

Industrialized nations are experiencing a global slowdown while thousands become unemployed daily. Many newly unemployed are skilled technical workers, with the majority having used a personal computer at work. These workstations will become idle, along with millions of others, and will soon be considered obsolete. Their ultimate destination will be the e-waste recycling bin, to be dismantled or shredded.

"There is a disgrace that comes with shredding and dismantling of old computers that we fail to recognize," warns Charles DiBella, of the Recycles.Org Nonprofit Recycling and Reuse Network.

DiBella claims nearly all laptops and notebooks, and most desktops dating back to the Pentium II, are still useful tools for poor students in developing nations. In fact, he says, any computer than can connect to the Internet is a virtual encyclopedia, and a valued commodity to poor and struggling students in developing nations.

DiBella, who lives and works in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, teaches and assists young adults from extreme poverty. He is the founder and administrator of the Nonprofit Recycling and Reuse Network, a technology and office equipment exchange network for schools, churches, and nonprofit organizations worldwide.

"Not all used computers in developing nations end up as toxic waste. Computers which we consider obsolete, along with older CRT monitors which we consider toxic, are being reconditioned to bring prices upward of $200 (USD) each in developing nations," DiBella said.

Why then, in the United States and other developed nations, are these computers being shredded, and their basic components melted down and recycled?

DiBella explains that computer service technicians in developed nations prefer to work with new equipment, often refusing to repair or refurbish anything more than a few years old. It is more cost effective to destroy a used computer than to recondition and ship it where it is needed for education. Once shipped, distribution procedures must be monitored for abuse.

"Assisting students in developing nations with our unwanted technology requires our time, expertise, and money. Recycling and reusing our old technology becomes a charitable service, more so than a concern for the bottom line, or an environmental excuse," DiBella added.

In the short run, it is more cost effective to destroy and recycle our used technology than to reuse it effectively, yet in the meantime, poor students in developing nations continue to struggle without the tools necessary for achievement in the global marketplace.

The Recycles.Org Nonprofit Recycling and Reuse Network has been on the web promoting recycling and reuse for education since 1994 at http://www.recycles.org.