Ever wondered what happens to our old computers? Most of our computers in North America journey to Asia or African countries, where they create unhealthy environments for millions of people.  An estimated 50 to 80 percent of E-waste collected in the United States for recycling is exported to areas such as China, India or Pakistan, where workers taking apart the old machines are handling toxic chemicals that can pose serious health problems.  The improper recycling of electronic waste in developing countries results in serious health and pollution problems such as water contaminated with lead and increased rates of cancer.

          On the other hand, a few companies are taking responsibility in order to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals found in their computers. For example, Dell, Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway have recently expanded programs to collect old computer equipment to be reused. Likewise Fujitsu is among a handful of Japanese companies that have developed technologies to help eliminate some of the toxic chemicals by developing lead-free products .

Hence we are calling upon the computer industry as a whole to make a commitment to consumers that they will follow the lead of companies like Apple in reducing the amount toxins found in their computers.

That way everyone can look forward to a greener and safer world of tomorrow, for all.