All, Have enjoyed the discussion of "business plans" for computer and other electronic (1) recycling for use, (2) demanufacturing to remove toxic and valuable minerals, (3) disposal in landfills in various parts of the planet, and (4) costs of shipment of lightweight-to-heavyweight products back and forth between continents in these times of higher costs of air, rail and water shipping fuels.
>From Illinois in U.S. great lakes region, which is also US EPA Midwest Region V, I wanted to share an update of "state-based electronic product recycling legislation" as a model of "manufacturer responsibility" standards, state environmental protection agency management, and phaseout of landfill deposits of non-demanufactured toxics for retail consumer-purchased electronic products. This was developed as a model in recent years by Chicago-based Environmental Law and Policy Center which works with similar environmental improvement and more-efficient high speed rail expansion in midamerica region. For persons interested in details, below is a link to Illinois General Assembly Bill Status of this legislation, which was passed by both Houses, and sent to IL governor on August 8. The Governor will have 30 days to sign or recommend modifications. If modifications are proposed, these could be considered in mid-November legislative session. That is, check back on IL General Assembly website in mid-September for result. (Go to www.ilga.gov and search for SB 2313, or go to status link below.) http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=2313&GAID=9&GA=95&; DocTypeID=SB&LegID=36270&SessionID=51 In any event, this is a model that several other U.S. states have either adopted or are considering, and is an "overall lifecycle environmental management" approach, and different from an initial "consumer or retailer responsibility" law enacted by California in which a purchaser pays a percentage fee or "deposit" which is collected by the state and distributed to business, nonprofit and public agency recycling centers for collection and recycling activities. It is believed that in more-recent "manufacturer responsibility" legislation, there are on-going financial incentives to manufacturers who do a good job in reducing e-waste, including by reducing the number of toxics in the products in the first place. Parties in Illinois view this as a "jobs and environmental improvement" effort locally, including for entry-level work and training opportunities in low income communities. It may also reduce the distribution of e-waste outside the state, depending on the costs of transportation and the viability of in-state recyclers and demanufacturers. Layton Olson Community Life Initiative Chicago -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of arthur richards Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 2:53 AM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Subject: Re: [DDN] e-waste in Ghana I cannot see how this is going to be beneficial to an african country when the cost of repair is often as high or higher than the cost of buying a new PC of the same quality or higher quality! By the time that PC hits any african city or school, the cost of shipping and repairing it outstrips the cost of buying a new equivalent PC! Why don't they instead buy an equivalent new PC and send to these countries? The answer is obvious. Johnson --- On Tue, 12/8/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [DDN] e-waste in Ghana To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <digitaldivide@digitaldivide.net> Received: Tuesday, 12 August, 2008, 12:46 PM hi Kwame on the upside, it can be an opportunity for ghana a lot of organizations have already written how to recycle pc's and other ict equipment the hardest part is to find buyers for the segregated pc parts china and india are prospects with their new appetites for metals surplus ict equipment (and other surplus materials) from the developed countries are really opportunities for developing countries in this case for school children just the right mindset and procedures need to be implemented reduce-reuse-repair-recycle regards rene y3k foundation > Denizens: > I brought this issue up several years ago (about 10yrs). I was berated by > another person > who accused me of crying wolf and rather preventing some poor school > children in Africa > from receiving free computers donated by "philanthropist". I tried to go > to > the archives to > retrieve that thread but I can only go to 2001. > > This is a growing menace to African society where under the guise of > donating computers, > Africans rather end up being a "dump site". > > we are still watching, > stay strong, > KDD > > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7544003.stm > > Greenpeace says it is concerned about the electronic waste trade in Ghana > which it claims is putting > the health of workers at risk. The campaign group says the dismantling of > discarded computers on > rubbish tips exposes people to smoke and chemicals. > > Will Ross reports from Accra in Ghana. > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net > http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. > _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. Win a MacBook Air or iPod touch with Yahoo!7. http://au.docs.yahoo.com/homepageset _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
