bt Ryan Huffman
I have a confession to make: I am an environmentalist. I don’t know when the last time I actually hugged a tree was because I find hugs to be less appealing when whatever I’m hugging remains rigid and refuses to return the embrace. With people, that’s usually a sign that the hug is unwanted, so I choose to admire trees from a slightly greater distance, but I care very much about the environment nonetheless. An inquisitive reader might be wondering what this has to do with the library or with my job. Well, as an IT professional, I have often felt that my job is a bit at odds with my passion for the environment. When asked to picture the opposite of “the great outdoors”, one might see a room filled with servers and network equipment whirring away all day and stacks of cables, computers, and electronic accessories or, as I like to call it: my office.
The umbrella of personal devices and their accessories is, I think it’s safe to say, the largest contributor to what’s called “electronic waste” or e-waste with hundreds of computers powering workforces numbering in the dozens, hundreds, thousands, and beyond. Some might view the modern world’s reliance on technology as a weakness, but it is undeniable that technology makes lives easier and employees more efficient. Think of the difference between searching the entire library catalog in seconds on a computer versus thumbing through hundreds of index cards in a card catalog (if you’re old enough to remember those).
Alas, devices do not work forever, and if they do outlive their lifespans, they often reach a point where the hardware cannot support the demands of modern operating systems any longer–a problem many identify as “planned obsolescence”. But before you waste the rest of the aluminum foil in your kitchen crafting a tricorne because the tech companies are conspiring to force you to buy a new cell phone every year, just know that the industry moves FAST. It is expensive and/or impossible to provide updates and new features for new devices while still supporting every legacy device that might still be in use. Asking Apple to support a 15-year-old device just because somebody might be hanging on to their iPhone 4 is unreasonable.
Those of us supporting these devices operate under a general rule of 5-7 years before many of them need to be replaced. Library visitors may have noticed that we are replacing many of the computers across the county because they do not support Windows 11. About seven years from now, the computers being replaced now will need to be replaced again. The problem with using a device until failure is that computers that suddenly stop working can be extremely disruptive or flat-out detrimental to an organization or user. Trying to e-file your taxes, and your laptop decides to crash? Too bad! I mean, you can go to your local branch of the library, but that’s beside the point, and you do have to put pants on for that.
When devices die, they go where all things go–into the ground/a landfill, right? Check out Derf Backderf’s graphic novel Trashed from the library for a fascinating peek into the world of garbage collection and disposal and a hint as to why that’s a bad idea. Computers use materials like mercury, lead, and cadmium in their components, and when left in a landfill, these materials can leak into the ground, wreaking all kinds of havoc on the environment and its inhabitants. Modern landfills are supposed to be engineered to prevent ground leakage, but some are not, and regulation isn’t always as effective as most of us would like.
However, there are options, and as an environmentalist working in an industry that probably makes some environmentalists shudder, I do what I can to identify and employ those options at the library. Most have probably heard the old sustainability slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle”. Reduction in workplace technology is not always an option so I look at ways to reuse technology that has outlived its initial purpose. If a computer cannot support the latest release of Windows, other operating systems like Linux or Google Flex have much lower hardware requirements and can breathe new life into a seemingly useless machine. At the library, it might become a catalog computer or a self-checkout station. If a device has simply overstayed its welcome at the library but still has some life left in it, local organizations such as the Adams County Rescue Mission, United Way, or Salvation Army might take it to be refurbished and resold or donated to someone in need.
Some devices are just old and ready for “the third R” (no, not “rapture”). At any given time, there’s a pretty good chance that I have a small (or not so small) pile of devices in my office that are ready to be recycled at the next Gettysburg E-Recycling event. Those who live outside the borough should check with their local waste management service for e-recycling options. When an electronic device is recycled properly, substances like lead and mercury that can be toxic are safely removed and either disposed of or recycled, when possible. Just because the components that make up the computer are no longer of use in that configuration doesn’t mean they are beyond their lifespan as individual parts and materials.
And then there’s the big question: How do we know that the devices are actually being recycled after they are surrendered? Well, the average person probably doesn’t know. There may be a 50-80% chance that donated devices don’t end up where donors thought they would. (Those are global numbers and should not be interpreted as an implication of any trickery on the part of our local waste management companies.) Curious readers could do some research and call a company to ask for details about their e-waste recycling program, pending the time and energy to do that. Understandably, some may not be able to or want to put that time in, and it’s okay to say, “I’ve done the part that I have control over.” I’ve known people who refuse to take part in household recycling because they believe that it all gets mixed in with the trash anyway. But for as easy as mixed recycling makes things, that always felt silly to me. For most of us, the days of sorting paper, plastic, and glass are over. Why wouldn’t you put in just a little more effort, and if it doesn’t go where you thought, at least you did your part. Then again, as I said, I am an environmentalist.
Ryan Huffman is Computer Systems Director for the Adams County Library System.