Social Entrepeneurship Students Consider E-Waste
dwaldron February 17th, 2009
Each day US homes and businesses discard approximately 133,000 personal computers. It is estimated that 50 million tons of electronic equipment are discarded globally each year. Because this discarded equipment (e-waste) contains multiple toxins, this constitutes a significant environmental problem.
The Office of Information Technology is partnering with a group of students enrolled in this semester’s Social Entrepeneurship seminar. That group is charged with examining the e-waste stream generated by the College and making recommendations as to how that stream might be managed to minimize its environmental impact. The group is also exploring the possibility that decommissioned computers might be of value to students or others who do not currently own personal computers. OIT sees this work as an important element of its effort to make its operations more environmentally sustainable. We are very grateful to these students for their work on this important study.
Aung Maw Myo Lwin, Prajaya Shrestha, Jiuwei Zhang and Lydia Yeung