Disposition and End-of-Life Options for PCs

The ultimate fate of products is an important issue in conducting environmental life cycle assessments, setting public policy on product disposal and tracing materials flows over time. This case study illustrates a methodology for estimating the fate of such products, focusing on personal computers. The methodology can be applied to a wide range of consumer products. Discarded or obsolete personal computers can be re-used directly, dissambled to re-use components, recycled to recover materials, or landfilled. Many computers are being recycled as markets for used computers and electronic equipment develop. Many are still being stored, despite the unprofitable nature of storage. Based on 1997 projections, our model suggests that nearly 150 million computers will be recycled in 2005. We predict that only 55 million will be landfilled. In addition, the equivalent of 15 million PCs will be landfilled from the unused portions of the 150 million recycled computers. In essence, the computers previously sentenced to death in landfills have been given a second life in newly established recycled electronic goods markets.