Electronic innovation is one of the most rapidly changing industries in history. Most new electronic devices will be outdated within one to two years or less. While it is exciting to own the latest devices, the older devices must be dealt with. Throwing them away is no longer an option due to shrinking landfill space and the environmental impact of discarded electronic devices. E-waste, as some have called it, amounts to 20-50 million tons of waste worldwide each year (that’s about 5% of all municipal solid waste).

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Greenpeace has for decades been the leading activist organization working to protect planet Earth. The organization publishes a Guide to Greener Electronics that offers manufacturer rankings based upon varied environmentally-responsible criteria. There are three (3) main areas of concentration broken down into several sub-categories. They are:

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Petropolis, Brazil, a small town 45 miles (65km) from Rio de Janeiro, is a tourist hot spot that has turned its human sewage problem into a solution for clean energy. The town has built more than 80 bio-digesting units designed to capture the methane gas and carbon dioxide released by sewage. In the past, a lack of sufficient sewage treatment facilities has been a problem for the area, as it is in many developing countries.

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The folks at Apple Computers are offering free computer recycling to schools. Sounds great! But wait! There is more to the story.

Apple has announced that, for a limited time, they will accept any brand of computer for responsible recycling from schools. There are, however, a few problems with their offer. The offer is only for a limited time. The offer only applies to certain schools. If a school misses the deadline date to sign-up, the offer is over. This raises the question why?

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