2001 Computer Report Card Released

Danielle Jackson

San Jose, Calif. -- Grassroots environmental, recycling and policy advocacy groups recently released the Third Annual Computer Report Card and launched the Computer Take Back Campaign to encourage businesses and households to recycle their obsolete computer equipment.

Coordinated by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, San Jose, Calif., and the GrassRoots Recycling Network, Atlanta, the Computer Report Card gives consumers, local government officials and activists a tool to measure the environmental performance of companies producing consumer computer equipment and is designed to encourage them to take back their obsolete equipment.

The Report Card states that hundreds of millions of obsolete computers are piling up and are causing a serious environmental hazard in the United States; most companies are not taking appropriate steps to phase out the use of toxic substances; Europe and Japan are taking the lead internationally with take-back laws requiring companies and individuals to recycle their obsolete equipment; and Massachusetts and California have banned computer monitors from their landfills, but other states have not.

The Report Card will be available at www.svtc.org/cleancc/pubs/2001report.htm after 10:00 am, Tuesday, November 27, 2001.