While computers typically will take up less than 1 percent of a landfill's volume, they contain toxic materials. "Computers are not hazardous waste when they're in use," says Chris Beling, solid waste project manager with the EPA in Boston. But if they're ground up, crushed or burnt in incinerators, they expose elements including lead, phosphorus, cadmium and mercury to the air or perhaps into ground water. Although businesses are prohibited from land filling their computers, residential users aren't, and they account for the large number of toxic contributions to landfills. So what can be done with them?

The most obvious way to recycle your computer is to sell or consign it. A number of computer brokers have started in the last five years, m

However if a computer needs repairs or it's from a 'prehistoric era' and too old to sell, there are other options. An increasing number of companies are diverting aging pc's from being buried by 'demanufacturing' them or breaking the components down into metal, plastic and glass. "There are a number of precious metals in those computers," says Tom Ricardo of Great Lakes Recycling in Roseville, Michigan. Gold, silver, platinum and other metals make it worthwhile to pull apart the guts of the CPUs (Central Processing Units). "We break them down and recycle the glass and other metals, and then they go to refiners," says Ricardo. His company also recovers tin, lead and copper and sells it to metal processors.

Another proactive trend is called "design for environment," or DFE, designing computers so that components are either easily upgradeable or more easily recyclable. This could mean a computer is easier to disassemble, and plastics and other components are more standardized in composition and easily recyclable (Hyde & Platt, p.21). Already, according to Pitts, IBM is using remanufactured keyboards in new computers. But Pitts says the concept is still in its infancy, and just beginning to infiltrate college engineering classes. IBM, Dell, Compaq and Hewlett-Packard are already using DFE to some extent. IBM, Compaq and E-Machines take back some older computers, he says.

When possible, plastic casing is ground up and remanufactured into a variety of products. Part of the motivation for this developing technology and use, beyond environmental concern and profit, is preemptive, especi

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