Managing IT garbage of a city generated by its citizens
 

Sustainable development has been a popular topic in Hong Kong for some time. The Chief Executive stresses its importance in his speeches on many occasions. To support  sustainable development, management of waste/garbage of a city should be important.

Although I know very little about sustainable development and management of waste,  managing IT waste/garbage is my concern, as it is strongly related to information society development. It is hard to imagine how a society can excel virtually when it is physically corrupting. An analogy is a person having a bright mind but also an unhealthy body.

In 1998, in a report of an government advisory working group (on information infrastructure community, environmental and personal services; I was then the convenor), it was written:

"....Government to organise campaign on minimizing generation of IT garbage (components, paper, chemicals, etc.) which could harm our natural environment".

However, very little concrete actions have been seen since then. Possible barriers I can think of are:

-lack of relevant laws and regulations

-a long history of non-intervention policies

-the tangible costs of managing IT garbage outweighing the benefits

-stronger motives to encourage buying new IT products than to prolong the lives of existing ones

-lack of demarcation of responsibilities to manage IT waste

I recently initiated sharing of relevant websites on IT (or ICT) waste/garbage in an e-forum of a professional network of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (UK). But so far, only websites on waste management have been found. It seems that IT waste management has not received the needed attention internationally, not only in Hong Kong. Many cities have still not found out effective ways to manage IT waste generated by their own citizens.

If you think that any of the above thoughts are wrong, or have good views to share, please enlighten me. Also, please share websites focusing IT waste management if you can find them.
 

Charles Lam  clam@kamching.com
August 2001

------------ A recent Economist article on electrical appliances --------------------

Remade in Japan

IT DOES not look good for the patches of greenery still left in Japan. On April 1st, a new law went into effect requiring owners of discarded refrigerators, televisions, air conditioners and washing machines to pay as much as 57,600 ($61) to have their used goods taken away and recycled. The government says the law puts Japan in the vanguard of environmentally friendly countries. Critics say that, by caving in to the business lobby, Japan has made a bad situation worse. They say the country is about to disappear under a mountain of rusting metal as consumers avoid the fees by dumping their appliances illegally.

As usual, the main bone of contention has been the question of who bears the cost. As Japanese government officials point out, in theory consumers eventually always pay recycling costs, whether they are billed explicitly, or via the cost of new appliances. But who gets billed first makes a big difference to economic incentives. If producers directly bear the cost of recycling, they are more likely to want to drive down costs by investing in recycling technology & developing appliances that are easy to recycle. Partly for this reason, the handful of countries that have already introduced recycling programmes for electrical goods, such as the Netherlands & Sweden, have all chosen to make producers pay. By charging consumers, Japan is taking the opposite path.

This, says the government, will have several benefits. It will encourage people to use their machines for longer. It will instil in consumers a sense of responsibility about the environmental cost of their consumption. And it will mean that the 300m appliances already in use in Japan can also be covered by the new law.

The big electrical-appliance makers, meanwhile, have not been treated quite as favourably as it appears at first. ......But consumer groups & local governments, which must clean up illegally dumped rubbish, leant heavily on the appliance makers. ......
Japan may, for once, have ended up with the best of all worlds. Consumers will hang on to their machines for longer. Producers will hope to lose a bit less money in future by making goods out of fewer, more easily reusable components.
........

For the article in full, go to http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=564154&emaf=1