By 2017, World’s E-Waste Predicted to Grow 33%
Posted on January 10, 2014 (http://www.livescience.com)
It looks like the e-waste problem is only getting worse. A new study by the “Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) Initiative” predicts that by 2017, the global volume of discarded TVs, cellphones, computers, and monitors and other electronic products will produce about 33 percent more e-waste, or 72 million tons. That amount weighs about 11 times as much as the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The forecast, based on data gathered from multiple sources, predicts e-waste generation will swell by a third in the next five years, led by the United States and China.
The U.S. generated about 258.2 million units of used computers, monitors, TVs and cellphones in 2010, 171.4 million of which were collected for recycling, and 14.4 million were exported, according to the report.
The U.S. is a major exporter of used electronics. The U.S. exports more CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors by weight than any other product, and more cellphones than any other electronics product in terms of numbers.
This is another example of why it’s so important to choose a computer recycling company that is certified not to ship electronic waste overseas.
Target agrees to pay California $22.5 million for environmental violations
Posted on March 03, 2011 (http://www.vcstar.com)
Target Corp. has agreed to pay $22.5 million for its faulty waste-handling practices over a seven-year period to settle a lawsuit filed by the California Attorney General’s Office and 19 California district attorneys.
The growing problem of electronic waste in landfills
Posted on August 10, 2010 (http://www.mnn.com)
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 42% of electronics sold between 1980 and 2004 have been thrown away, the majority of which were not recycled. From 1999 to 2004, the rate of recycling for these products flattened at just 15% to 20%.
What’s worse is that many of these unwanted electronics still work. The Consumer Electronics Association estimated that of the 304 million electronics — including computers, televisions, VCRs, monitors and cell phones — removed from U.S households in 2005, two-thirds were still working.
While the number of electronics recycled has increased in recent years, the percent recycled remains the same when compared to the total amount of electronic waste, which has also increased. Electronic products have become the fastest growing portion of the solid waste stream.
Digital Photocopiers Loaded With Secrets
Posted on April 15, 2010 (http://www.cbsnews.com)
Nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive that stores an image of every document copied, scanned, or emailed by the machine. If you’re in the identity theft business it seems this would be a pot of gold.
This past February, CBS News went to a warehouse in New Jersey to see how hard it would be to buy a used copier loaded with documents. It turns out … it’s pretty easy.
The results were stunning: One of the copiers was from the Buffalo, N.Y., Police Sex Crimes Division and contained detailed domestic violence complaints and a list of wanted sex offenders. On a second machine from the Buffalo Police Narcotics Unit we found a list of targets in a major drug raid.
Another machine from Affinity Health Plan, a New York insurance company, contained 300 pages of individual medical records. They included everything from drug prescriptions, to blood test results, to a cancer diagnosis. A potentially serious breach of federal privacy law.
Secret U.S. data found on cast-off hard drive
Posted on June 23, 2009 (http://www.thestar.com)
Journalism students say they paid $40 in Ghana for a second-hand hard drive that contained information about multi-million-dollar defense contracts between the Pentagon, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and one of the largest military contractors in the United States.
One of the students said the hard drive was purchased in an open-air market in the coastal town of Tema from a local dealer who bought second-hand hard drives by the cargo load.
The drive contained information about hiring and personnel contracts and plans for U.S. defense agencies and the private military contractor Northrop Grumman, they say. The data on the hard drive included sensitive information about hiring practices, which could help people learn how to get into secured positions at places such as airports. The hard drive also contained information such as credit card numbers and family photos.