| GRN Recycle Talk FAQ Answer |
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 98 08:54 WET DST From: FRIEDMAN.FRED@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV (Fred Friedman) Subject: Re: Computers
October 19, 1998
Q: Are computers environmentally safe?
A: Where? On your desk? Yes. In a landfill? No. Are all of the materials in computers nonhazardous? No.
Q: Can their parts be recycled?
A: For the most part, they can, and infrastructures and markets to do just that have been being developed for the past 5 years. The chief problem materials, depending upon geography, are CRT glass (which contains hazardous amounts of lead) and some of the industrial plastics, and some components bearing amounts of heavy metals such as arsenic and cadmium in excess of US EPA TCLP test limits.
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