• Action Alerts
•  

iWaste: Time for Apple to Recycle

Posted on August 16, 2005

In the PSA Laptop, a bank heist gone arwy illuminates the digital divide that still exists in North America. Despite the many who are media poor, the media rich are purchasing more computers more often. But what is happening to all of the obsolete computers?

The environment activist group Computer Take-Back Campaign (CTBC) recently flew a banner over a stadium that read: "Steve — don't be a mini player — recycle all e-waste." Apple CEO Steve Jobs was in the middle of delivering a commencement speech at Stanford while the stunt took place. The banner was criticizing Apple for lagging behind the rest of the computer industry in its recycling efforts.

While Dell was the first corporation to begin a recycling program, soon to be followed by HP. After working with these two companies between 2002 and 2004, Dell recovered computers and peripheral equipment weighing a total of over 15,500 tons. HP recycled well over 100,000 tons. On the other hand, Apple only managed to recycle about 1,500 tons of e-waste in 2002 and a comparable amount in 2003. IBM has also pursued their own recycling methods, and processed 68,831 tons of e-waste worldwide in 2003, sending 1,112 tons of that total to landfills.

A recent article published on AlterNet bites into Apple's recycling history and examines the groups that are putting pressure on computer companies.

Read the article, E-Waste and iWoes published by Zack Pelta-Heller on AlterNet.

Learn more about Computer Take-Back Campaign and the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.

Related Films: Laptop