参观“Grindhouse”

你可曾想过发生了什么在地球的拯救电子回收工厂,在那里大量的电子垃圾每天被分解和加工。埃里卡奥格的ZDNet的新闻最近被授予独占访问惠普的“Grindhouse”内部,一个200000平方英尺的回收设施的萨克拉门托,哪些流程400万磅,或24000吨,每月电子硬件。Ogg的描述他所看到的一切:“在巨大的设施,托盘的灰色复印机堆叠包装包不匹配显示器旁边等待缓慢、痛苦的死亡。但之前磨床,大多数电子产品首先必须面对一大群男人和女人手持气枪和螺丝刀。弯腰驼背办公桌上用蓝色实验室外套,回收中心员工迅速地带内部的机器,分离的研磨过程。一个娇小,affable-looking女人快速的一堆黑色的笔记本电脑——折叠屏幕打开,折断一声裂纹的塑性铰,去除液晶屏幕,然后把它翻过来删除主电池和电池小按钮。电脑的塑料外壳,电池和屏幕都是单独划分和地面。有害物质——水星灯泡在旧的CRT电视机和显示器、电池、喷墨和激光打印机墨盒,嘲笑,派其他地方被融化,但其余面对粒状碎纸机,这听起来像它看起来痛苦。我们游客近距离看到研磨行动。攀爬的金属步骤巨大的机器,我们会见了此起彼伏的隆隆声。我的笔记本和手立刻覆盖辛的尘埃,或更有可能的是,残余的不必要的技术。 The first step of the process minces the material into 4-inch shards. The precious metals, like gold, silver, platinum and copper, are collected and sent to a smelter, where they are melted down and sold for reuse. What's left rumbles by on a conveyor belt for a second grind, this time into 2-inch pieces. A giant magnet then picks out the small pieces of steel. Next is another conveyor belt with positively charged tubes on each end. The tubes create an Eddy current, which causes the aluminum pieces to bounce around, separating itself from the plastics. The end result is a 5,000-pound box of silicon, glass, and plastic confetti, which is shipped out to a separate contracted facility and reused to make auto body parts, clothes hangers, plastic toys, fence posts, serving trays, roof tiles--and maybe even your next PC.” HP's recycling efforts are rumored to cost the enterprise, "millions of dollars" a year, said Kenneth Turner, HP's manager of product takeback operations. "It's not profitable, but it's worth doing for our reputation. Ensuring that the process is done the right way--not putting hazardous materials into the ground--also lessens HP's vulnerability to environmentally oriented lawsuits", he added. I think it’s a noble effort on their part and I hope it pays off for them in the long run. Something tells me that their efforts will be soon be rewarded when our consumption culture matures into a culture of ‘reuse’. HP will have a leg up, and hopefully continue to lead the way on that front. by Joshua Levitt Save up to 90% off list price and save the environment too when you shop atUsedCisco.com通过RSS辛迪加绿色你的网络博客Digg这个博客