E-waste poses trouble for landfills, environment

Nan Turner
Staff Writer

Students on campus last year may have noticed the influx of recycling bins and the propaganda to go green, encouraging students to dispose of trash in a more eco-friendly way.

The university made a push to act environmentally-friendly; however what some students may not know, is that good recycling practices do not end with only bottles and cans.

Electronic waste, also known as e-waste, has become a growing problem in an age when electronics are used for shorter amounts of time. According to the Electronics Takeback Coalition, a San Francisco group that works for greater recycling awareness, the U.S. generated 2.63 million tons of electronic waste in 2005. Of that, only 12.5 percent was recycled, and the rest ended up in landfills and incinerators.

John Burton, manager of Computer World on West Broad Street, thinks this is a statistic that is not only dangerous to our environment, but needs to change.

“A lot of heavy metals are in components of computers that could damage soil and poison water basins,” Burton said. “It would take several hundred years, but it would happen. That’s why the state allows us to take it to a recycling plant where they break it into pieces and reuse it.” At Computer World people can recycle any old electronics such as computers, printers, old televisions, speakers and VCRs. Depending on the amount of recyclables on-site, pick up may be available.

While Burton’s specialty is electronics, he believes students should start going green by implementing daily changes.

“They should look to see and be more aware of what can be recycled, which is basically everything,” he said. “We have a recycle bin here, not just for computers, but for our own personal trash. We’re a very environmentally conscious computer company.”

As part of the cleaner earth movement, VCU recycled more than 33 tons of computers and electronics last year and 214 tons since 2000, according to The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Steven R. Heinitz, recycling and reuse coordinator at the university told the Times-Dispatch that the biggest goal was to keep the used machines out of the landfills.

Some students, like VCU junior Erica Jackson, agree with Heinitz’s reasons for safely disposing of trash.

“I think now with everything going green and with our generation we use a lot of resources and everything so it’s more of us using,” Jackson said. “I think we should be the ones to recycle the most because it would have the greatest impact.”

Fellow VCU junior Ray Kyle echoes her sentiments and says he would like to know what happens to the university’s used equipment.

“It would like help the environment and make it a lot better to recycle,” Kyle said. “By the school going green, they would be able to save more money than by like making that stuff over. They could just reuse it, so that would be helpful to the earth.”

Both Jackson and Kyle have recycled printer cartridges, a VCR and an MP3 player.

Used electronics can be dropped off at recycling centers throughout the city. To find more information on recycling around the VCU campus, visit www.vcu.edu/recycling.