The Campus Environmental Center (CEC) at UT handles recycling of aluminum cans and #1 and #2 plastics. There are 24 large, blue barrels located throughout campus for outdoor recycling. They can only accept plastic bottles without lids. Please do not put full bottles or anything that has been used for food or hygiene purposes in these barrels.
Indoor recycling is a voluntary program which you can sign up for. Volunteers “adopt” barrels indoors and are responsible for carrying bags of recycling to a pre-designated pick-up location. Student drivers collect bags usually once a week. The CEC cease operations during the winter and spring breaks, so do arrange for a pickup prior to these holidays. Please visit their Web site if you have any additional questions or concerns or would like to adopt-a-barrel.
Ink and Toner Cartridges
The Campus Environmental Center (CEC) recycles ink and toner cartridges from UT and from your home. Sign up online and create a collection point in your office or department. When it has 5-20 cartridges, you can call a student volunteer to do a pickup. Once again, these pickups are handled throughout the school year and are not operational during winter break or spring break. Make sure you get a pick up before these breaks. You can also drop off your printer cartridges at the CEC office in SER 207.
Document Solutions Printing Services also recycle printer ink cartridges only from UT. Through them, you can drop off a box of cartridges at any Campus Mail pick-up location, at the Mail Services Building, or call 512-471-6523 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 512-471-6523 end_of_the_skype_highlighting to arrange a large pickup. Another option is to drop them off at any office product store (e.g. Office Depot, Office Max).
Computer manufacturers must take responsibility for dealing with electronic waste to ensure toxic trash doesn’t fall into the wrong handsDell, the world’s second largest PC manufacturer, announced earlier this month that it is imposing a ban on the export of used equipment bearing its name to developing countries – unless the equipment is in full working order and intended for legitimate use.The idea is to undermine the huge trade in e-waste, too much of which ends up in giant trash piles in Africa, India and China, from where it is dismantled, burned, treated with corrosive chemicals and otherwise persuaded to give up tiny amounts of chemicals that can be sold on. The big question is why all the other manufacturers don’t have a similar policy.I’ve seen these toxic waste operations in action. They call it recycling, but it’s extremely damaging. In an industrial wasteland outside New Delhi in India, I watched as children as young as eight dunked bare circuit boards in acid to create a residue of copper for sale to a local works. Child labour? You bet. Health and safety? You have to be joking.
A family of migrant boys from Bihar, India’s poorest state, told me they got used to the acrid fumes that had them coughing and giddy within minutes of coming on the job. “At the end of the day we have a strong drink and we are OK,” one laughed. It’s an evil trade. But how do you stop it?Dell admits that it cannot wave a magic wand and ban its used products from export. But it has a worldwide policy of accepting back without charge all used Dell equipment. It requires all its contractors to accept the used equipment, to follow the new rules – and to act as whistleblowers on rivals who do not.”This is a very significant announcement,” Barbara Kyle of the Electronics Takeback Coalition in the US told Associated Press earlier this month.
The e-waste trade is the unacceptable face of recycling. Greenpeace reckons that as much as 80% of the electronic waste sent for recycling in the US ends up being “recycled” using dangerous low-tech methods in foreign countries. And, despite Europe’s tougher laws, a lot gets through the net there, too.Just a few months ago, Computer Aid International, a charity that gives old computers a new life in schools and other places in developing countries, criticised Britain’s Environment Agency for failing to conduct an investigation after British e-waste turned up in the hands of child dismantlers in west Africa.”What are the other manufacturers doing to ensure a responsible outcome for the equipment?” asked Tony Roberts, of Computer Aid International. “All manufacturers should be held accountable for the disposal of any product manufacturer by them.”Many other companies offer take-back services. But that is very different from imposing rules on their supply chains. And on closer examination, the take-back services often seem half-hearted at best.
The printer maker Lexmark is currently covering Britain with posters advertising its environmental credentials and encouraging users of its printers to print less. Good for them. But what about the e-waste?In the US, if you want to safely recycle an old Lexmark printer, you have to pay the bill for shipping your printer back to its offices in Tennessee.
A study by Greenpeace this month of the environmental record of electronics companies did not give Dell a great record because it had been slow to eliminate some toxic ingredients from its products. But at least it is now taking a strong stand about making sure those toxins don’t get into the wrong hands and it should rise up the Greenpeace chart.
Its rivals will have to do a lot better to keep up. Greenpeace singled out the largest computer manufacturer Hewlett Packard on its handling of e-waste. HP claims to have been “an industry leader in reducing its impact on the environment … for 50 years”, but Greenpeace didn’t agree. It criticised HPs weak scheme for voluntary take-back of its equipment amongst other things.Also criticised for failing to handle e-waste were Acer and Lenovo, whose “commitment to social responsibility” does not highlight e-waste.These companies need to quit the greenwash and get real about ending this bogus recycling business
Office Depot recycled almost 1.5 million pounds of old tech equipment through its service for consumers, the company said Wednesday.That sounds like a lot. It makes you realize how quickly all those landfills must be filling up since that figure represents only the junk from people who 1) actually bother to recycle, and 2) chose to go with Office Depot’s recycling program.For a comparison, I decided to check how other company-sponsored recycling programs are doing. Unfortunately, as sustainability expert Kevin Wilhelm told CNET, there is yet to be a standard way for companies to calculate such statistics. What’s included in recycling statistics varies from company to company, but the data I dug up offers a rough idea of what’s going on in this arena.Staples, an Office Depot competitor, began offering an in-store recycling service in May 2007. It charges $10 per large item regardless of where you originally bought it; recycles small items like keyboards, mice, and speakers for free; and offers $3 in Staples rewards for Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark or Dell brand printer cartridges.By the end of the 2007, Staples had recycled 2 million pounds of tech junk, including almost 24 million printer cartridges in the U.S., according to the company’s 2007 sustainability report.
What about the computer manufacturers themselves?
Hewlett-Packard has had a recycling program since 1987 and in January 2009 launched a new program that offers money for old tech equipment. As of June 2007, the company had recycled more than 1 billion pounds of electronics and printer cartridges and expanded to include consumer programs in 50 countries. HP’s new goal is to reach 2 billion pounds by the end of 2010.Unlike Office Depot, which asks customers for pay $5, $10, or $15 for a box they can fill with everything from printers to digital cameras, HP offers credit that can be put toward the purchase of an HP product.
Apple has consumer recycling programs in 95 percent of the countries where it sells its computers. In 2007, it collected about “21 million pounds of e-waste,” according to the company’s 2008 environmental report.
Dell offers consumer recycling programs worldwide. In the U.S., it’s free. Between 2006 and 2008, Dell recycled about 255 million pounds of its own products. Its goal is to recover about 275 million pounds by the end of 2009, according to its 2008 Global Corporate Responsibility Report.
Big Blue seems to have recycled the most, or at least calculated the most.
Between 1995 (when it began keeping track) and the end of 2007, IBM “collected and recovered (resold, refurbished, or recycled)” more than 1.5 billion pounds of product and product waste worldwide, according to the company’s latest corporate sustainability report.
In the U.S., IBM offers consumer recycling programs on a state-by-state basis.
While recycling tech equipment is definitely a positive way to do your part for the environment, it’s also important to keep your computer information secure. Always remember to properly wipe computers clean of your personal information before giving away or recycling them. Coincidentally, CNET’s Seth Rosenblatt did a piece on wiping hard drives clean earlier this week.
HP has developed the ability to use recycled plastics in the production of new HP inkjet print cartridges, according to this report. More than 200 million cartridges have been manufactured using the process thus far. HP used more than 5 million pounds of recycled plastic in its inkjet cartridges last year, and the company plans to use twice as much in 2008. The amount of recycled content in the new printer cartridges varies between 70 to 100 percent of the total plastic used.HP’s recycling process uses a range of plastic products, from water bottles to HP inkjet cartridges. Since first piloting the process, HP claims to have used enough recycled plastic to fill more than 200 tractor trailers.
Last spring, Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) introduced its ColorQube™ 9200 Series multifunction printer (MFP) with a straightforward proposition – affordable color that lowers the environmental impact of office printing. One year later, organizations around the world say it’s true – solid ink technology is making a positive impact on business and the environment.
“The technology behind the ColorQube 9200 Series, along with Xerox’s marketing of the solution, has been very well-received in the marketplace,” said Angele Boyd, GVP/GM, Imaging/Output/Document Solutions, IDC. “The MFP is answering a definite need for businesses worldwide and is a testimony to the benefits of Xerox’s solid ink technology.”
Customers using the ColorQube 9200 Series to cut costs and meet their sustainability goals include:
CityCenter (U.S.), an urban destination of hotels and residences, spas, dining and shopping on the Las Vegas Strip, recently installed 37 ColorQube 9200 MFPs to help meet sustainability goals. The MFPs generate 90 percent less supplies waste, 9 percent less lifecycle energy and 10 percent fewer greenhouse gases than a comparable laser-based product and are located in every property in the development, including the flagship ARIA Resort&Casino.
CityCenter has achieved six LEED® gold certifications by the U.S. Green Building Council. The solid ink MFPs are just one part of its commitment to using sustainable elements and practices to create a healthier environment at CityCenter.
The ColorQube 9200 Series is helping businesses in Europe reduce their color printing costs, including Capespan (U.K.), a leading fresh produce company that installed two ColorQube 9200 MFPs at its headquarters earlier this year. The MFPs cut the cost of color pages by up to 62 percent compared to traditional color lasers, without compromising print quality, saving the company thousands of dollars.
“When looking for new office printing equipment, our objective was to consolidate the total number of printers, while retaining productivity levels,” said Jeremy Sykes, network manager, Capespan. “The ColorQube 9200s have accomplished this goal with a lower cost of ownership and impressive reliability.”
Corus Entertainment Inc. (Canada), one of Canada’s largest and most-successful media and entertainment companies, has entered into a five-year partnership with Xerox Global Services to run its Corus Print Centre. The deal enabled Corus to replace 240 older print devices with 43 new Xerox machines, including 30 ColorQube 9202 MFPs.
The MFPs will help Corus reduce costs, increase staff productivity and build on the sustainability initiatives associated with the company’s new LEED gold-certified headquarters.
The ColorQube 9200 Series will be on display at IPEX 2010, May 18-25 in Birmingham, U.K. Xerox’s booth is located in Hall 7.