Reducing e-Waste

eWaste is an important component of the disposal burden that we are imposing on the planet every day worldwide. Much of it is difficult to recycle and ends up in landfills in developing countries, poisoning groundwater with toxic chemicals and metals. Waste that is recycled to recover precious metals, ends up releasing toxic fumes during combustion. A big source of eWaste is the relentless cycle of upgrades forced upon us by Technology companies. At the same time there is a significant number of students around the world who are denied access to computers owing to the unbridgeable funding gap. Is there a way out of this situation?

Recently I fired up an old laptop that was lying unused for some time. Although four years old, it was in perfect working condition. The reason I had put it away in favour of a fancier new machine was because Microsoft had launched their newer OS (Windows 10) and my machine was not upgradeable without significant effort. On a whim I decided to replace the operating system with Ubuntu instead. For the uninitiated, Ubuntu is a version of an alternate operating system, Linux that is rock solid and used by much of the servers powering the internet and the cloud. Linux however, never gained traction with consumers since it required considerable technical knowledge. This includes using a feature known as Command Line Interface that techies love and folks like you and me find challenging. Ubuntu eliminated this sticking point by building a user interface that closes the gap with Windows. Importantly it is totally FREE. I have been using this machine now for the past two months pretty much as my work PC by putting away my Windows laptop. Ubuntu running on a 4 year old PC is stunning. It has the speed and features we expect from a new Windows PC. LibreOffice that comes built in is as good as Microsoft Office. I have written documents; created Powerpoint presentations; edited photos; music and more – apart from accessing all the sites I need to on the web. They have an App store that has plenty and more of free Apps that anyone would need.

Inspired by this success, I went a step further and opened up another old laptop lying abandoned at home. This was a twelve year old machine (Core 2 for the cognoscenti) that my wife had inadvertently ‘killed’ when she accepted Microsoft’s invitation for a free upgrade to Windows 10. It used to take 30 minutes to start up! This time I loaded the machine with Google’s Chrome operating system. The laptop sprang to life and has been working as good as new. I have tried using Google’s Office Tools and they do a good job too.

OK. So what does this have to do with reducing eWaste? Simply said, it is time to get off the repeated upgrade cycle imposed on us by Microsoft, Intel and the PC manufacturers. All of us have old PC’s lying at home that we dont know what to do with. Load Ubuntu or Chrome and give them away to a charity or a needy family rather than throwing them away. Most importantly these operating systems and most Apps they come with are FREE. If you are an organization worrying about disposing off old assets responsibly, find an IT service provider who will do this work for you and gift the laptops to a charity. If you are a charity or a non-profit (aka an NGO) offer to do the repurposing of old laptops for your donors’ old assets before giving them away to the needy.

Who will gain? First, mother earth as a result of the reduced waste. Second and importantly a child in need whose education could receive a boost with a new PC. And last but not least, you will gain ‘Good Karma’ for this act. Dont wait! We are all sailing on a doomed ship with little time remaining to save it before it sinks. Your participation is critical.

Milind Yedkar