[GreenYes] Computers and Mining Companies

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@recycleworlds.org>]

According to 8/13 Wall Street Journal ("Noranda Gleans Precious Metals From
Old PCs and Electronics:Mining Company Finds It Does Pay To Recycle Consumer
Electronics")

    "There's gold in them thar PCs.

    "And copper, silver, platinum and palladium, metals that are
increasingly being recycled from discarded computer and electronic gear and
sold in metals markets around the world.

    "To the big Canadian mining company Noranda Inc., the mounting global
heap of used consumer electronics is as valuable a source of metal as any of
its operating mines or any deposits its geologists might discover.
Electronics, in fact, produce "a much higher dollar value per ton than mined
ore" from the earth, says Bob Sippel, senior vice president of recycling for
Noranda.

    "Just about any electronic gear can be recycled. Computers, printers,
telephones, pagers, stereos and network routers are among the products
dropped in Noranda's four recycling facilities in the U.S. ..

    "Mining companies and technology companies may be unlikely bedfellows,
but Noranda and Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif., are building on a
relationship established five years ago, when the companies created an
electronics recycling facility in Roseville, Calif. This month they launched
another facility, in Nashville, Tenn. H-P pays Noranda to process unsold
equipment as well as gear collected from consumers and businesses under a
recently launched "take-back" program. Under the current program, consumers
pay $13 to $30 to have their old electronics picked up, but "eventually
it'll be just part of the purchase price" of the new equipment, predicts
Renee St. Denis, H-P's product-recycling manager.

    "..."


                                                        Peter

______________________________
Peter Anderson
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING Corp
4513 Vernon Blvd. Suite 15
Madison, WI 53705
(608) 231-1100
Fax (608) 233-0011
anderson@recycleworlds.org



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