WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE OLD
COMPUTERS YOU DROPPED OFF AT
THE RECYCLING FAIR? GLEE
OFFICIALS SAY THEY HAVE
PRACTICED DUE DILLIGENCE TO
ENSURE THAT DISPOSAL IS SAFE
AND GREEN
by Dennis Reeves Cooper
Two weeks ago, Key West
The Newspaper (KWTN) published
a feel-good feature story
about a recycling fair at Key
West High School being sponsored
by GLEE– Green Living
& Energy Education. One of the
services being offered at the fair
was the free collection of old
computers and other electronic
equipment. The collection
service was being provided by
Recycled PC Parts out of Miami,
a division of Scrap Integrated
Recycling (SIR), based in Sao
Paulo, Brazil.
The story praised GLEE
and SIR for providing the service
in an effort to keep this “ewaste”—
and the toxic materials
that much of this equipment
contains— out of landfills.
Computers are sleek,
high-tech marvels, but inside,
they contain poisons like lead,
cadmium, mercury, chromium,
and polyvinyl chlorides. Experts
say that all these materials
have known toxicological
effects that range from brain
damage to kidney disease to
mutations and cancers.
After the story appeared,
a number of readers alerted
KWTN to a recent “60 Minutes”
broadcast that alleged
that a number of big recycling
companies— rather than safely
recycling all of the e-waste they
collect— are illegally shipping
some of it overseas to toxic
waste dump sites, where it is often
dismantled by low-income
workers, including children.
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