Ever wanted to toss your desktop in the trash?
*Now you can!
Recompute, termed “the sustainable desktop computer” according to its website, has gone into production. The computer’s housing is made out of corrugated cardboard.
But the housing is just the tip of the garbage heap (forgive me, I just had to pop that in there). According to Recompute, the goal is achieving “sustainability in design.”
You can check out the entire development process here.
Recompute says that its computers can be easily taken apart without tools, making not only the cardboard case recyclable, but the components inside easier to access and recycle as well. The machines should be ready by next month…and there’s already a waiting list.
What wonderful news to kick off our weekly theme: E-waste.
In this week’s Special Report:
- Daniel Ott says in our Analysis that e-waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream, leading industrialized nations to examine measures to control it. But, the impact of e-waste on the developing world remains to be seen.
- In our Podcast, Dr Mathias Schuelp states that even though e-waste can be a problem, it can also offer those in developing countries various opportunities.
- We’re featuring a UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology brief on the environmental hazards of e-waste in Publications.
- You can find the full-text of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, a landmark document signed by 172 countries, in Primary Resources.
- We also have Links to relevant websites, among them an e-waste guide by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.
- In our IR Directory we have more information on relevant organizations, including Empa, an ETH institute for material sciences and technology development.
And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and join our join our Facebook fan page.
*Okay, okay. Please use proper recycling methods. I was just a tad bit excited.