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Recycling in the News- from Individual.com

Your on-line resource for responsible waste disposal

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May 17, 2000- Individual.com news about recycling computers.
Computers contain recoverable amounts of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium. Massachusetts led the way when In March, Massachusetts enacted the first U.S. ban on personal disposal of computer screens, television sets and other glass picture tubes in landfills or incinerators. But what can be done with the stuff in a used computer? A Massachusetts company has developed a pothole filler that can be made with the plastic recovered from discarded computers. IBM announced last month it would market a dlrs 2,155 personal computer made of plastic recycled from discarded computers. A surprising number are resold. Voorhees said Envirocycle refurbishes central processing units, printers, monitors and other items its technicians can easily get working again and sells them at stores in Syracuse and Binghamton (in New York state), and on Internet auction sites. Envirocycle sells the mountains of leaded glass it recovers to cathode ray tube companies. The company sends plastic waste to MBA Polymers Inc., a California company that grinds, separates and identifies the materials for recycling.

Companies and organizations who address this issue:
Cascade Asset Management LLC in Madison, Wisconsin, Neil Peters-Michaud, CEO
Envirocycle of Hallstead in northern Pennsylvania, Greg Voorhees, VP
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a nonprofit group

June 12, 2000- Individual.com news about recycling at the 2000 Olympics
The Sydney Olympic Committee has selected Biocorp Inc. to supply all the eating utensils, cup lids, straws and trash bags to the summer games. These items are completely biodegradable, unlike previously advertized similar biodegradable items which were made of plastic and cornstarch, and left a plastic residue. These products degrade completely to carbon dioxide and water in 30-60 days. Bins for separating various kinds of trash will be provided at the games, and by allowing food utensil items to be mixed with food scraps Sydney hopes to solve the problem of the prohibitive cost of separating these products from food waste. There will be 10,000 tons of waste generated at the games. You can read more about these products at Biocorp's web site .