Termyn8or
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Joined: 11/12/2005
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I got called in to watch the segment on 60 Minutes as I usually don't watch TV. It was quite interesting.
Apparently recycling is usually not done in this country, there is a place in Asia for that. They nave bejillions of computers, monitors and a bunch of our other ejunk.
Now they had their issues, and since it wass their TV program they bring up what they want to bring up. They focussed on working conditions and environmental impact, which is of course, politically correct. I actually don't argue their points, they are right. Conditions are deplorable and the operation is not quite eco-friendly to say the least.
They had an interview with someof the workers, one had burns all over his hands. It really didn't look all that serious but you think something would be done to stop it from happening. When asked why he didn't quit he replied that the money was good. Eight dollars a day.
Now that I have presented their issues, here are mine. Did anyone ever hear of good ole American ingenuity ? Instead of concentrating on the politically correct issues maybe we need to move forward to reach a solution. I think if we put the brainpower available in the US to work, we can find ways to make this process more efficiwnt and eco-friendly. That used to be our way. We were among those who burned gasoline out in the fields before we discovered it's value.
Some plastics are recyclable, but many are not. Ways must be found to use this. Recycled plastics tend to become brittle after a number or years, so we need chemists to come up with better additives. They mentioned CRTs, and the fact that they were being shipped overseas illegally, that is without the proper licenses, I could not care less. They were talking about the lead in CRTs, which is an issue, but a CRT does contain some other things, one of which is phosphorous. There is also a shadow mask that is made out of a very specific kind of steel that has a near zero thermal expansion coefficient. The steel was especially developed for this application. While it is not reusable, there is no reason to think the steel could not be reused.
And they speak of people breathing in gases from unsoldering chips from PC boards with heat guns. How bad it is for them. I do it all the time trying to fix the junk they dump here. But they showed someone in font of a pit or something that was emitting red smoke. From what I remember that is burning mercury, and it is part of the technique used to recover the gold. Many things you would never expect have gold plated contacts, just over here we have deemed it not worth recovering. If I am not mistaken, that's the same red smoke with the mercury in it that resulted in the saying "Mad as a hatter". When you buy a cowboy hat they shape it for you, and the red smoke is what they figure drove alot of hatters crazy.
There must be a better way. Our learning institutions might not be the best in the world, but among us are some of the best minds. If only we could tap them for some truly new methods and ideas for solving these problems.
The problem is transparent for the US because it is mostly shipped off. But we are the major consumers of tis junk, so figuring out better ways to reuse the components and get rid of the refuse could be profitable. Over there they pay eight bucks a day, we need to pay eighty bucks a day. While that is a huge problem knowing what the answer is, is actually easy, just increase profit margin by a factor of ten.
Laugh all you want, but when you buy a new PC and decide to throw the old one out, take a screwdriver and take it apart. Have a look inside. Try to build that. All the time and monet that goes into this stuff is garbage in a few years. I know how complex it is because it is my job to know how complex it is. Take a close look at the chips that almost seem to be part of the board. Take a look at the standup boards if any. You can't build something like that.
We need to conserve, get it ? It took this country's resources and ingenuity to get this built. So you threw out all your old 486 computers eh ? Why didn't you just load them up with old software and give them to kids when they were 4-5 years old or something. It would encourage them to read better, which is fundamental of course, and they would learn. Curiousity is like a savage beast in the mind, just like greed, the more it gets the more it wants. Another apt word is insatiable. I would rather put them in front of a PC than a TV. TV tends to try to answer all questions within a half hour minus commercials.
Old cellphones, why can't they be reprogrammed as personal walkie-talkies ? I know people who prohibit their empoyees from taking their cellphonrs up on the roof or out in the yard, things like that. A personal communication system would be great, it's just a matter of reprogramming. Of course that can't be allowed because it might slow down cellphone sales.
Produce and consume. Nothing new.
But think of it this way. We are all hamsters running on a big wheel, and for some reason the wheel must turn. However some hamsters are in a race and it is increasing the RPMs of the wheel, therefore we must all run faster or get tossed off or go spinning around in the thing.
A strange analogy I admit, but it seems quite apt. [sarcasm] Now go get that Christmas shopping done or else. [/sarcasm]
Look at things from all angles, we can you know. If I can do it you can do it. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. A stopped clock is right twice a day, and out of 100 statements from a fool, one could be the solution. Don't let anything offend you, you learn alot more. Even if you are looking at a bunch of assholes, understanding them is still understanding.
I think we can prevail in the scrap industry, and many others if the right people run these things. Our problems are simple, we just don't know who SHOULD be boss.
Tear it up, that's what it's here for.
T
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