Green computing: how to watch your waste

Take three tons of old computers, add some electronic toys, tools and gadgets to the mix and then bung in a few fridges, washing machines and other white goods. Mix together well and form into one huge sculpture standing seven metres high.

Believe it or not, just one person could supply the mixture for this sculpture because that is the amount of electrical and electronic equipment they will get through in a lifetime.

But it is not just the waste we generate; our reliance on these gadgets and gizmos means we consume electricity at an alarming rate. Politicians have taken action over the growth of potentially hazardous waste produced by the technology industry in the form of a piece of legislation called the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, charmingly shortened to the Directive.

This law will affect the way consumers and companies dispose of unwanted or broken electrical goods, and in this feature we will set out the ways you can abide by its worthwhile intentions without undue hassle.

Some companies offer incentives to recycle, so doing your bit could bring its own small reward. We'll also consider how to curb our gadgets' appetite for energy while still enjoying their full benefit, which saves money on household bills and helps to protect the world.

Green about the gills
Under the directive, manufacturers and retailers have a legal responsibility for financing the treatment, recycling and recovery of waste electrical goods. The aim is to make sure only a fraction of the waste that currently ends up in landfill is disposed of this way.

Such waste has disturbing undertones. Electrical goods contain some fearsome elements, including lead and cadmium. In a single PC, for example, these toxins pose no threat, but when thousands of such devices are buried in landfill sites the risk of the toxins leaking into the water supply become apparent. You can find out more at the WEEE Man website.

People are the real challenge when it comes to the success of recycling schemes but companies say they are not sure people can be persuaded to do their bit, and not simply dump products in their wheelie bins when they no longer want them.

This concern is not misplaced. Even though many of the details of the directive still need to be clarified by the Department for Trade and Industry before it comes into force in June 2006, most of the major manufacturers have had recycling schemes in place for sometime now that consumers can use.

But few take advantage, even though the average householder in the UK now owns 25 electrical and electronic appliances. The UK still disposes of at least one million tons of electrical waste every year and almost all (90 per cent) of this ends up as landfill.

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