Electronic Waste Graveyard

[douglas9]

Increasingly, we’re pushed to trash tech that should still work, such as Chromebooks, phones, and smart home devices, just because the software has expired or lost support. This database lists more than 100 tech products that have stopped working after manufacturers dropped support. It calculates the total weight of all these dead devices which have joined the 68 million tons of electronic waste disposed of each year.

When software expires, or web cloud services end, consumers and schools are pushed to replace devices that should still work. For example, our “Chromebook Churn” report found that tens of thousands of laptops were being replaced by schools because the software had expired. We also found Windows 10 will expire in October 2025, leaving up to 400 million PCs that won’t be able to upgrade to the next version.

We estimate a minimum of 130 million pounds of electronic waste has been created by expired software and canceled cloud services since 2014. We estimate that the expiration of Windows 10 will result in 1.6 billion pounds of electronic waste from PCs that can’t upgrade to Windows 11.

For the planet, this lack of support results in a death by a thousand server support cuts. This e-waste adds up. At the very least we need lifetime transparency for tech—we should know how long manufacturers guarantee the tech we buy will work before we buy it.

https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/electronic-waste-graveyard/

[NNadir]

1. I hate to recommend something published by PIRG, but I will.

The article makes an important point about our culture of waste and disposal.

[hunter]

2. In the case of Chromebooks...

... they deliberately make it difficult to repurpose them as general purpose Linux machines. It used to be as easy as opening the machine up and shorting a jumper but lately it's an elaborate song and dance that can leave a machine bricked if you make a mistake.

That's increasingly true of all personal computing devices, Windows machines included.

The manufacturers claim it's for "security," but it's as much about locking you into a certain computing environment as it is about keeping the bad guys out.

I've been a computer nerd since I was a kid. Devices I can't jailbreak simply don't interest me. Other than a few Raspberry Pi machines, all my 21st century home computers have been diverted from the e-waste bins. The most I've ever paid for a home computer was $299 for a somewhat grimy 386 that was used as a shop display.

My all-time favorite computers are still the Atari 8 bits. I haven't discarded any of mine or their accessories.