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ragnar

Tue Nov 28 2006, 12:00PM

Registered Member #63 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:18AM
Location:
Posts: 1425

from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6187358.stm

wrote ...

1: Lead in cathode ray tube and solder*
2: Arsenic in older cathode ray tubes**
5: Antimony trioxide as flame retardant***
4: Polybrominated flame retardants in plastic casings, cables and circuit boards*****
3: Selenium in circuit boards as power supply rectifier*****
6: Cadmium in circuit boards and semiconductors******
7: Chromium in steel as corrosion protection*******
8: Cobalt in steel for structure and magnetivity********
9: Mercury in switches and housing.*********

* Lead, yes... on the *inside* of the glass. It's there for a reason (x-rays).
** Arsenic. Not elemental -- it might be in some phosphor compounds, again on the *inside* of the glass. Unless it's the DOPANT in TRANSISTORS! *GASP*
*** Antimony trioxide is only weakly absorbed by the digestive system, and the main route of exposure is by inhalation of the dust. But "trioxide" sure sounds scary *GASP*
**** OH NO, those HORRIBLE PBBs must be EVERYWHERE, considering their production CEASED in 1976.
***** Selenium was never, ever used in computer-power-supply rectifiers... lying leftist journalist dolt. Except maybe in the ENIAC, but they're all in museums now.
****** Cadmium in circuit boards? Where? As plating on connectors...? *GASP*
I guess we should also be wary of all those cadmium sulphide photoresistors, and cadmium tellurium photovoltaics which are getting thrown out in our computers. Where?
*GASP* Calculators often have small CdTe solar cells. Quick! Incinerate the bastards!
******* Chromium? *GASP* Chromium and nickel are held so securely in the iron crystals that it doesn't even leech into FOOD COOKED IN PLATED VESSELS. What's the problem?
******** Yes, I'm worried those awful samarium-cobalt magnets will just dissolve into my groundwater, along with the hermetically sealed, cast+machined aluminium hard-drive casings that completely surround them.
********* I have never, *ever* seen a mercury switch inside a computer, power supply, or monitor. Perhaps in tablet-PC/laptops and digital cameras, to select display orientation..?

*sigh*

Thankyou and goodnight. =P

...

Tue Nov 28 2006, 03:14PM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

I would have to agree with you but for the fact that my mom works at the local waste water treatment plant... They have such tight limits on heavy metals that the water that leaches out of their landfill getting into the ground water puts them over the limits sometimes...

It is true that there is nasty stuff in old gear, and some sorta-nasty stuff in new gear, although the line has to be drawn somewhere.

OMG, that soup can has .0001mg of Cr in it, we can't put that in a landfill!!!!

Bjørn

Tue Nov 28 2006, 03:35PM

Registered Member #27 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058

Before more people makes complete fools of themselves I have to inform that the first post in this thread contains serious errors and the person that wrote it seemingly did not understand anything of the original article.

Steve Conner

Tue Nov 28 2006, 05:20PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

I also have to inform that this is an emotive issue. You'll see it totally differently if you're a free-market libertarian, than if you're a European socialist, an electronics industry worker, a tofu munching hippie, or a Lagos slum dweller whose back yard turned into a 3 story pile of blazing 15" monitors overnight.

Personally, it would be nice to think that the e-waste trafficking thing is hyped out of proportion, and that a lot of computers either get dumped in their country of origin, or used abroad like this

Or maybe not: here's a more indepth version of the article originally referenced.

And a slightly less tofu-munching viewpoint that cites actual facts.

It's interesting to see that several of our members "cook motherboards over primitive stoves to retrieve parts" too, but I guess they don't do it 9 to 5 for a living.

My computers are mostly made of other people's castoff parts, so I feel good now

Bored Chemist

Tue Nov 28 2006, 06:14PM

Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022

Even the "slightly less tofu-munching viewpoint that cites actual facts" makes for pretty nasty reading.

ragnar

Tue Nov 28 2006, 09:51PM

Registered Member #63 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:18AM
Location:
Posts: 1425

Hi Bjorn, I quoted the article out of context and my attempt at attacking every point was a misguided stab at anything RoHS-legislation-related. =P

Could you point out my errors and perhaps consider locking this thread before I disgrace myself further? Cheers ^^

Marko

Tue Nov 28 2006, 10:47PM

Registered Member #89 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145

Why does it seem to me, that atmosphere on 4hv is getting somehow dull last days?

I don't see much use in sarcasm and flame wars over such controverse topics.

Bjørn

Tue Nov 28 2006, 11:26PM

Registered Member #27 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058

I know you quoted it out of context, but misrepresenting one article that is not 100% accurate by writing something that is even less accurate does not help anything or anyone.

You wrote that the production of PPBs ceased in 1976. That is true for the US because it was stored in badly marked containers and someone managed to mix it into cattle feed and generally behave stupidly. Considering that the US produces little of the worlds computers it does not make much difference. Some countries with large production will not restrict it's use until next year.

I don't think this thread is of very good quality but I am not going to lock it. You raise a valid point in that the table "HAZARDOUS WASTE" is peculiar and contains some odd bits of language that can be interpreted in many ways.

Instead of making the worst interpretations you could think of you might have made a proper and correct list and avoided the original mistake of trying to label everyting on a PC. Then you could have pointed out that a PC stored under the desk poses no danger but that concentrating thousands of tons of waste in a small area while realeasing the contents into the air and groundwater is not so bright.

Michael W.

Wed Nov 29 2006, 01:00AM

Registered Member #50 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:07AM
Location: Vernon, B.C, Canada
Posts: 324

It feels like 4hv is getting dull because of the number of "jumping down someones throat" occurances....

ragnar

Wed Nov 29 2006, 01:33AM

Registered Member #63 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:18AM
Location:
Posts: 1425

I'm not sure if I have enough time to jump down the BBC's collective throat all at once on a whim.

Does my post carry at the very least, merit, regarding the journalist's claims of "selenium [...] as power supply rectifier" and perhaps a few other points, like the cadmium, chromium and cobalt?

I felt 'whimsical' =P regarding the article because I it seemed (in typical BBC style) like another 'free kick' at technology and Western progress in general, designed to infect readers with the mentality of hating science/technology/ourselves in general, in exchange for a false sense of moral highground.

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