Recycling old electronics has been an important step in keeping our environment safe. And yet, based on personal experience, not many people take advantage of cell-phone and computer recycling centers.
Well, UW-Madison has changed the game. Recent tallies show that more than 350 tons of computers, monitors and peripheral equipment has been recycled by UW-Madison between July 2010 and June 2011. This number is incredibly impressive, but where did all of this stuff come from?
According to UW-Madison News, the sources of the material include university departments, state agencies, Wisconsin municipalities and other campuses. The Madison campus has taken it upon itself to bear the burden of running a very large yet very effective recycling program. However, some may still be wondering what the big deal is. Who cares about recycling? What in the world does it do for me?
Put simply, it can save your life. These materials contain toxins such as lead, mercury, aluminum, silicon, cadmium, chromium and radioactive isotopes. All of these can lead to serious health problems if ingested in any way. By recycling such materials, it keeps them out of landfills and water supplies. If computers were to sit in a landfill, their harmful toxins could leak into the soil and eventually poison our food. The same could be said if it got into our water supply. We would ultimately be poisoning ourselves if we did not recycle such materials.
If not dealt with, over 700,000 pounds of these hazardous materials could be in our soil or in our lakes and rivers. This would cause pandemonium since much of our food and water we take for granted would be deemed unsafe to consume. Then what? Wisconsin needs to identify these potential crises and prevent them from ever happening.
Luckily, UW-Madison’s Materials Distribution Services (the property recycling department of campus Purchasing) and the campus Division of Information Technology (DoIT) partnered with Universal Recycling Technologies (URT). According to their website, URT is dedicated to recycling materials responsibly and ethically, working with its partners to design and sustain a comprehensive compliance program. They provide strict supervision during the processing of waste and they never ship waste offshore. This type of company is exactly what we need to keep our planet healthy.
URT understands the importance of responsible recycling and has even been given e-Stewards Certification. This is no easy feat to accomplish. There are mountains of requirements to adhere to, not to mention rigorous on-site audits performed at least once a year. To have an e-Stewards Certification means that you truly embody to the nature of the responsible recycler.
URT is clearly stepping up to do its part and I commend DoIT and UW’s Materials Distribution Services for partnering with such an esteemed organization. I am proud to be able to say that my school is doing its part in keeping our state—ultimately our planet—safe.
I do, however, have one bone to pick. Where are all the students? The sources of the material, listed by UW-Madison News, does not include the student body of any school. In this day and age, most students have a laptop computer or at least access to one. These laptops generally have a fairly short life given the rapidness of technological improvement and frequency of student use. So why aren’t 20,000 computers coming in every year from students alone?
Although the university is doing a great job in contributing to this cause, I believe an education program is needed for the students on campus so that they can contribute. This is by no means suggesting that every student should have to recycle their computer. But perhaps, when students go home in a couple of weeks, they can ask their parents about that old computer they got when we were 13, or that very first cell phone that weighs 15 pounds and has a cracked screen, and bring them back to school to recycle safely.
Nick Fritz is a junior majoring in marketing. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
