More than 75 million Americans own a personal computer, and this
number is rapidly climbing as computers become more affordable.
Many more use computers in their workplace (more than 40 million
Intel-based PCs and seven million laser printers use 18.2 billion
kilowatt/hours of electricity per year).
Most people think of computers as relatively pollution-free, but
the _act_ of computing is not. Here are a few tips to help make
your computing a bit more environmentally gentle.
The Computer
If you work in an office where there are many terminals with monitors turned on, turn down (or even off) your heat in the room during winter months. Enough heat comes from the monitors to keep the room warm. If you work at home or with one computer at a time, turn off the monitor if you can when not using it, which will save a fair amount of power. This is also a good idea for servers and other machines which stay on all the time.
Electronic Mail
If your office does not have your computers networked together, do
it! The use of electronic mail for inter-office correspondence can
save a tremendous amount of paper. American offices last year
generated more than 775 billion pages of paper - that equals 14
million tons of paper a year, or 238 million trees.
Computer Magazines
Don't throw away old computer magazines. You can recycle them by
donating them to your local public library, user groups, doctor's office, health clubs, or even laundromats. Think of it as educating the masses.
Floppy disks
Do you have 3.5" floppies that just don't hold data any more? Well, don't throw them away. They make great coasters for your morning coffee!
Disk Storage
Don't buy disk storage boxes. If you or a friend has a newborn
child (or know someone who has), the rectangular "baby wipes"
boxes make great disk storage containers. You can fit about 50
disks in a box. Soak off the labels, and you can write on the box
using a magic marker.
Printers
If you use a dot matrix or laser printer there are a few things
you can do. Be sure to use recycled paper (and envelopes and
labels) in both types of printers, and remember to use the blank
back side of sheets that you print as drafts. There is nothing
wrong with using the second side of the sheet, and this can cut
your consumption of paper by as much as half. Proofread your work
before you print! Most wasted paper is from stupid typographical
errors.
If you use cloth ribbons in your dot matrix printer, you can
usually re-ink those ribbons. In fact, you can get up to 15-20
re-inks per ribbon and the quality of the print is usually darker
than newer ribbons. This also reduces the cost per ribbon. Many
computer user groups have re-inkers and charge about $1 to re-ink
(versus $5-$15 per new ribbon). Many people have had luck
refilling ink cartridges for ink-jet printers, but the
manufacturers of those printers don't generally recommend that you
do that.
For laser printer users, many toner cartridge manufacturers now
recycle used cartridges and donate money to environmental
organizations. Some even pay you, and most pay for the UPS
shipping as well. Also, there are companies that will recharge
your toner cartridge for considerably less than the cost of a new
one ($40 compared to $90). Considering that more than 98% of the
15 million cartridges sold in 1991 ended up in landfills, and only
a fraction recycled, you can see how important it is to recycle
those toner cartridges.
Toner Cartridge Recycling
Apple Clean Earth Campaign -- 800/776-2333
Donates $0.50 to National Wildlife Federation and Nature
Conservancy per cartridge. Call them and they send you a prepaid
