The findings, published by researchers at the United Nations
University in Tokyo, has found that computers are very energy and
materials intensive to produce. The authors warn that fossil fuels
are linked to climate change and that the use of chemicals can
affect the health of microchip production workers.
In fact, the weight of fossil fuels required to make one desktop
amounts to more than ten times the computer's weight – by
comparison, the quantity used to make a car or a fridge is roughly
equal to the weight of the finished product.
The EU's Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive,
due to be implemented in all Member States by August 2004, is also
assessed in the study.
The Directive applies to a wide range of products, including IT,
telecoms, TV, video, hi-fi, electrical and electronic tools, toys,
sports equipment and medical devices.
The WEEE Directive sets criteria for the collection, treatment,
recycling and recovery of waste electrical and electronic
equipment. It makes "producers" responsible for financing most of
these activities. Producers include manufacturers and resellers of
equipment purchased outside the EU.
But the UN report claims that the effectiveness of the Directive
will depend on how the legislation is actually implemented.
Recycling managed by a monopolist concern, whose main interest
is meeting simple recycling targets for a fixed fee, could be an
expensive system with little environmental benefit, says the study.
But a multilateral concern aimed at maximising profit and reuse
across the life cycle presents a more promising picture.
The report also stresses that the attitude taken by consumers
will have a big effect on the environment. At present most old
computers end up in landfill sites, when in fact many of these are
still useful.
The authors of the report, UN University's Ruediger Kuehr and
Eric Williams, call for education programmes and incentives to
encourage consumers to think about using second-hand PCs or to hand
their old PC over for resale or refurbishment.
