Just one color computer monitor or television can contain up to eight pounds of lead. Consider that amount in light of the estimated 12 million tons of 'e-wastes' that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates may soon be dumped into American landfills.

Researchers have devised a 'reverse production' system that creates infrastructure to recover and reuse every material contained within e-wastes --metals such as lead, copper, aluminum and gold, and various plastics, glass and wire. Such 'closed loop' manufacturing and recovery offers a win-win situation for everyone, researchers said. Less of the Earth will be mined for raw materials, and groundwater will be protected.

But this simple concept requires a lot of brand new thinking. The researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are devising methods to plan reverse production systems that will collect e-trash, tear apart devices ('de-manufacture it') and use the components and materials again -- all while making the process economically viable.

Key to their approach is the ongoing development of a mathematical model to predict the economic success of recovery efforts. Modeling is necessary given the uncertainty inherent in a host of variables --quantities, locations, types and conditions of old parts, and numerous aspects of transportation (distance, costs of fuel, labor, insurance, etc.).

They are creating a new architecture for separation systems. From this work, new industries and an infrastructure can be created to recover value not only from e-waste, but also from automobiles and other durable goods. >from *New system recovers and reuses electronic wastes*. march 3, 2003

related context
> microchip: environmental impact. november 12, 2002
> e-waste: cyber-age nightmare. march 5, 2002

imago
> no dumping: our flow drains to ocean