No Technology is Truly Green: A guest post from Alyssa J. Pasquale

Before you invest in that new "green" computer or purchase those fun solar deck lights, read this insider's perspective from Fake Plastic Fish reader Alyssa J. Pasquale and consider whether buying new technology is ever truly green. If you have an idea for a guest post, please email me at beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com and let me know. I'd love to feature more of your ideas here!

I would first like to thank Beth for allowing me to write this guest post. My name is Alyssa and I am a PhD candidate at a very large university in Boston. I work in electrical engineering and have a focus on photonic devices. These are generally nanometer-scale devices that use light to do something cool. Some people in my department work on biological sensors, some on solar cells, some on lasers, and some on LEDs.

I’ve been doing research for a long time (I started as an undergrad) and one thing that’s prevalent in my work is lots and lots of waste. As I told Beth, I find it awfully ironic that the technology that is being hailed by many as able to save the world is such a large producer of toxic waste. And people who don’t work in R&D or in high tech industry might not be aware of what goes into your LED flashlight or the laser that does your eye surgery.

Being a PhD candidate can be disillusioning in many ways. Not only are you constantly surrounded by many of extremely intelligent people who know more than you, but you learn about all of the limitations of everything. LEDs will always consume power. Solar cells will never be 100% efficient. Lasers will never be perfectly coherent. In other words, nothing comes for free.

My work brings me into a class 1000 clean room quite often. (A class 1000 clean room means that there are 1000 particles of dust allowed in any cubic foot of airspace. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s clean!) This is probably the area of my research that creates the most waste, and much of it is plastic. What follows is a list of the plastic things that I interact with in the clean room, as well as whether or not it’s reusable, disposable, or can be reused.


(Shown in photo: two bouffant caps, four nitrile gloves, a few strips of Parafilm, one small wiper, one petri dish with lid, one gel pack sample holder.)

REUSABLE (Routinely reused.)

o Gowns, booties & hoods – It is mandatory to wear a gown when you enter a clean room. It is not to protect you from chemicals; it is to protect the clean room from all of your skin cells! The ones in my lab are made of 99% polyester and 1% carbon. (I don’t know why they have carbon in them.) These are washed once a week and are returned individually shrink-wrapped in plastic disposable baggies (to keep dust out during transit, presumably).

o Goggles – These are likely made from polycarbonate.

o Face shield – Probably made from polycarbonate, these are important to wear when working with dangerous chemicals. The last thing you want to get is acid splashing on your face. They’re also a joy to wear when you have on glasses and goggles and your glasses start sliding down and you can’t touch your face. (Not.)

o PTFE tweezers – When working with acids and bases, you need an inert material to use as a tweezer because metal will corrode. PTFE is polytetrafluroethylene, better known as Teflon.

o Beakers – As I said before, some chemicals etch glass, so if you have to pour them out it has to be into a plastic jar.

MIGHT BE REUSED

o Sample holders – These can be simple like plastic petri dishes or more complicated gel packs that have a layer of sticky gel to keep samples from sliding around.

o Protective equipment covers – These are like the film that comes over your cell phone screens. I’m not sure what exactly it’s made of but I’d be shocked if it’s not plastic. These are to protect equipment from any chemicals that may be on our nitrile gloves.

o Heavy duty chemical gloves – These are for when you work with heavy duty chemicals. The plastic it’s made of depends on which you buy. Some can be PVC, Neoprene or heavy duty latex. Nitrile gloves are thin and easily eaten by acids. Heavy duty gloves can generally be reused until they start to break down after too much chemical exposure.

o Chemical jugs – Most chemicals we buy are in plastic jugs, some in glass. Some chemicals (such as HF) absolutely have to be in plastic because they etch glass. There are only two chemicals (out of many) that I use in glass jars, most come in plastic. We reuse them as waste jars but I honestly have no idea what happens to them after that.

DISPOSABLE

o Pipettes & wrappers

o Clean room wipers – These are pieces of “paper” that we use to wipe up chemicals, or write notes about things as we’re working. I was astonished to find out that they are not really paper, but a mix of 55% cellulose and 45% polyester. They are not supposed to release any fibers (dust) into the air, and cannot be easily ripped (if you do manage to rip one, no fibers are released, unlike what happens when you rip paper).

o Bouffant caps – Made from 100% polypropylene, these protect the clean room from hair. (They are like hair nets that food service workers use.)

o Nitrile gloves – The clean room uses nitrile gloves. Other facilities use latex gloves but I’m not sure if they are natural or synthetic. Nitrile gloves are a synthetic rubber copolymer.

o Parafilm – This is a thermoplastic used to seal jars and bottles.

o Tape – We use a lot of plastic tape in the lab. Vacuum tape and double sided tape are very popular.

That list just encompasses the plastic that is generated due to clean room work. It doesn’t consider any of the other waste, such as the HUGE amounts of chemical waste. (In one day I can easily use acetone, methanol, isopropanol, polymer resins, methyl isobutyl ketone, tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodide, hydrofluoric acid, and a lot of de-ionized water. Not to mention the gases – sulfur hexafluoride, methane, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, tri-fluoromethane, etc. etc.)

There is also a lot of plastic that comes with the life of a grad student. We’re constantly buying supplies, and most of the time they come in plastic. Chemicals especially need a lot of isolation in shipping and will generally have many layers of foam, plastic, vermiculite, and lots of warning labels to keep upright. Computers come with plastic towers (and we use a lot of computers).

Seminars and other such meetings are held an awful lot in my building, and there is also plastic waste related with this. The department provides bottled water and sodas at some events (fortunately, some events have reusable beverage urns). For some strange reason the lemons for the tea are always wrapped in plastic wrap. The food is put on plastic trays (which I assume are reused). Crackers are sometimes served and they come in plastic sleeves.

Not to mention the lifestyle of being a grad student. While I personally use my flexible hours to ensure that I have enough time to home cook all of my meals (and I always bring in lunch in a glass container with a plastic – oops – lid), many grad students opt for take-out. There’s a Subway that’s not far from my building, and many students come in between noon and one with a plastic bag holding a giant sandwich. Lots of students consume lots of bottled water. I know of a few students with Nalgene bottles or reusable coffee mugs. I have a SIGG bottle. One of my office-mates actually keeps a Brita filter on his desk. But most opt for bottled water even though we have perfectly good water fountains on every floor.

So next time you buy or read about a newly engineered “green” product – such as an LED lighting device – think about what went into it. While better than older alternatives, I wouldn’t call most technology “green” at all. Although it may sound hypocritical coming from an engineer, there’s a lot to be said for old-fashioned technology.
 

What do you think about cell phones? Should I switch to Credo?

Cell phones. I have one. Through AT&T. It's a Sony Ericsson Z525a that I bought 3 years ago, choosing this model because compared to the others offered at the time, it lasted the longest before needing to be recharged. (Talk time up to 9 hours and standby time up to 400.) It's not special. It does have a crappy camera, but that's about the only "extra." No fancy keyboard. Not much in the way of web browsing. It's fine. And it still works just fine.

Okay, now I know cell phones give off radiation and we are advised to keep them away from our heads. (I still don't have a headset for mine. Just like I rarely use sunscreen. Tempting fate?) And I know there are all kinds of environmental issues around manufacture and disposal of cell phones, the very least of which is that they are made from plastic. Most of them are also full of toxic heavy metals.

I hadn't even considered trading in my perfectly good phone (and am constantly urging others to really think before upgrading to the latest and greatest gadgets) until this morning, when I received an email from Green America (formerly Coop America) titled "5 Environmental Questions About Your Phone Company," promoting Credo Mobile. Here's what the email says:

If you're concerned about the environment, you ask questions about the things you buy. Here are five questions to ask about your phone company:

1. How much has your phone company donated to Greenpeace?
2. Does it donate to plant trees for each ton of paper used?
3. Does it work to stop new coal-fired power plants?
4. Does it oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?
5. Does it support legislation to drastically cut CO2 emissions?

Credo's answers to all these questions is a resounding, "Yes." And if that weren't enough, check out their Green Statement.

For those who don't know, Credo used to be called Working Assets. It's a socially responsible company that gives large amounts of money to progressive causes. In fact, Credo/Working Assets has been my long distance carrier for "16 long years," according to the customer service rep I spoke to this morning, and I've always felt good about this ethical choice. But back when I bought my first cell phone, Credo wasn't in the cellular business, so I went with AT&T (then Cingular.)

Seems like a no-brainer to switch to Credo for my cell plan, right? But there's a catch. I'd have to trade in my old, perfectly good phone, for a new one. Why? Because Credo is on the Sprint network, which uses different technology from AT&T. I asked. I was all set to write a post about how I opted to forego the brand new free phone this morning. Not possible.

Question #1 -- What do you think is the greener choice? Obviously, not having a cell phone in the first place. But I'm not willing to do that. So should I turn in my 3-year old phone (which will be refurbished & donated -- Credo participates in Collective Good's cell phone re-use/recycling program and offers several refurbished cell phones to customers to minimize cell phone waste) or should I stick with AT&T until this phone dies, even though it is a multinational corporation that may not share my values?

What would you do?

Question #2 -- If you do think I should go ahead and switch to Credo, should I choose one of the very basic refurbished cell phones or should I upgrade to a smart phone like a Blackberry or Motorola Moto Q in order to be able to access the Internet and blog while away from home without having to lug around a laptop? Have any of you used one of these gadgets? Are they a good idea? And since I would have to replace my phone anyway, wouldn't this be a good time to upgrade as well?

I'd love to find a used phone via Craigslist. Unfortunately finding a Credo-compatible phone via Craigslist will be difficult. Right now, there are none listed. And the customer service rep at Credo tells me that simply finding a Sprint-compatible phone will not work. Here is a list of the phone choices available to me if I switch. Should I pick one of these?

Or do nothing and continue to support AT&T. Would that be so bad?
 

Year 2, Week 44 Results: 1.2 oz of plastic waste & LaundryTree Winners!

Well, it was a plastic-filled week, as you can see. Please read through to the bottom of this post to find out the winners of the LaundryTree soapnuts giveaway!

The tally for last week included all new plastic waste:

• 6 plastic baggies from purchase of new Canon PowerShot SD780 IS camera. I had to replace the camera that was swiped on Wednesday. Normally, if I lose or break a plastic item, I'll wait and try to find it used or ask myself if I really need it in the first place. But with no camera, I can't do this blog. It's that simple. I replaced my camera the same day I lost it.
  
  That doesn't mean I didn't care about the plastic. First of all, I chose the smallest camera I could find. Check it out. This thing is the size of a credit card and will easily fit in my pocket. (I took this photo with my cell phone and had to doctor it in Photoshop to make it as sharp as it is.)
  
  The camera comes in a small cardboard box with molded paper dividers. No Styrofoam or hard plastic. Unfortunately, each component is protected by its own plastic baggie: camera, battery, battery charger, cables, and even the wrist strap. But compared to the overpackaging of many electronics, I feel like I did pretty well.


• Plastic clamshell from new SD memory card for my camera. This clamshell is smaller than many I've seen. But perhaps I could have found an SD card with zero plastic packaging. Amazon.com offers one with almost none, but how eco-friendly is it to ship from Amazon?


• Packing tape from 3 packages delivered this week. I am trying to request that vendors switch to paper tape. It doesn't always work out.


• 1 plastic envelope window. Financial West Group. I also got some credit card promos, but I returned them to the sender with a note requesting no more junk mail.


• Plastic wine stopper from a bottle of Da Vinci Pinot Grigio. Won't buy this wine again.


• Bits of plastic tape from gift wrapping. These were gifts that I bought for others and therefore, should have been in control of the plastic. Unfortunately, the store clerk had wrapped them in paper and taped them up before I realized what was happening.


• Plastic "Initial Here" sticker attached to some bank forms I had to fill out this week. How did we ever fill out forms before these little plastic stickers were invented?

Well, that's the tally. And now for the LaundryTree Winners!

1) Joules
2) Laura
3) Jennifer
4) Quiet Little Life
5) Erika
6) Sarah
7) MaryLinda
8) Mindful Momma
9) Harry
10) Mrs. Bell

Congratulations! If you have won, please contact me at beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com with your mailing address.

If you didn't win, I plan to have another (little) giveaway on Earth Day. Please check back.
 

Year 2, Week 28 Results: 8.8 oz of plastic waste.

Well, we can't say I didn't end the year with a bang. Look at all that plastic, most of which was acquired new. And some of which is exactly the kind of packaging I routinely rail against. But I have excuses explanations for all of it, I assure you!

First, plastic used up this week that was purchased before the plastic project began:

• 1 plastic bag of Ocean Spray craisins. Found in the back of the refrigerator while cleaning on Thursday. Do I know how to celebrate Christmas or what? These things expired two years ago, apparently. Dumped them into the compost and have the bag left to deal with.


• 1 bottle of Spectrum Essentials wheat germ oil & cap. Another discovery, expired and forlorn in the refrigerator. And at this point, I have no idea why I bought this stuff in the first place. I must have read that it was good for me. Any ideas?

New plastic waste:

• 1 large plastic clamshell from a new Flip Video camera. Here's where the justifying begins because this is just the kind of thing I'm always complaining about and for which I find alternatives or buy used or don't buy at all. And in fact, I didn't buy this item. I received it free from a marketing research company as part of my payment for participating in a video consumer research project.
  
  Here's the deal. I'm registered with several research companies to attend focus groups for a fee. Being opinionated has its rewards. So a few weeks ago, I got a call from one of these firms offering $200 plus a free camera for me to spend 45-60 minutes making a video of myself in my kitchen, discussing the products I buy and tools I use and then finally sharing my thoughts about a particular brand of organic canned food. It sounded like fun. I didn't think much about plastic when I agreed to do it. I believe they called during the office Christmas party, and I'd already had a glass of wine.
  
  So the camera arrives in the packaging you see in the photo. Crap. I considered sending it back and backing out of the project. After all, the camera itself is plastic and made who knows where (Wait... let me see... it's made in... China! Big surprise.) and I wouldn't need it if I would get around to having my bigger expensive video camera repaired (although, to be fair, the big expensive camera requires plastic DV cartridges, whereas the Flip doesn't require any additional media cartridges or cards at all.) Blah blah blah. I was ready to send it back, and then the light bulb went off in my head.
  
  This project could be a perfect way for me to let this particular organic foods company know how I feel, as one of their customers. To let them see a nearly zero waste kitchen, and to address the issue of BPA in their cans! I would not be sending just an email or letter, but a whole video explaining what people like me need and want. And it would not be seen by a customer service rep but a marketing department interested in what I have to say! So I decided to keep the camera and go through with the project. The extra money in no way influenced my decision. (Okay, of course it did. In the interest of full disclosure, I'd really love to have an extra $200!)
  
  I completed the video last night and am uploading it now. (It's taking hours to upload.) Tomorrow, I'll post parts of it here... the parts I can show. I probably am not allowed to tell you the name of the research company or organic foods brand, but just keep in mind that when it comes to BPA, all food cans are lined with it (organic or not) with the single exception of Eden Organic beans. The brand in the study is not Eden Organic.
  
  If you buy beans or veggies or tomato paste in cans, consider writing a letter to the company and asking them to find an alternative to BPA.


• Another plastic clamshell from a 3-pack of LED night lights. I haven't checked, but I'll bet these are the only two clamshells I've acquired all year. Could be wrong, but I can't remember any others. And once again, this was a freebie. We had a coupon for a free CFL from a local hardware store, and when Michael went to pick up the CFL, they gave him this instead.
  
  The night lights (yes, plastic) are actually really cool. Light sensors allow them to come on only when the room is dark... an energy saver for people like us who forget to turn off our night lights in the morning. And they use much less energy than the CFL we leave on in the kitchen so as not to kill ourselves in the dark. And much less than the incandescent night light bulb in the bedroom.
  
  But isn't it ironic that a product created to save energy is made from so much plastic and packaged in still more plastic? I'll be writing two letters tomorrow... to Flip Video and to Feit Electric. I'll post them here, of course.
  
  Oh, and one more thing about clamshells. Check out the benefits as listed by Blisters.com. I love number 3: Adds value to product. Really? In what universe? These packages are so hard to open, there's now a special tool you can buy just for the purpose. Exactly what value do you think they mean?


• Plastic baggies from 2 aluminum felt door sweeps & plastic packing tape from the box. I bought the door sweeps from Amazon.com because the door sweeps available locally were made from vinyl (PVC) which I just won't buy if there is a PVC-free option. Of course, they came in plastic bags with plastic tape on the box. We've already tried using a handmade draft dodger, but our cats tore it open and spilled beans all over the house. They are not very environmentally-friendly, those kitties.


• Plastic shipping tape & UPS envelope from Skoy cloth delivery. Sigh.


• 1 piece of plastic from the ends of a bunch of organic bananas. Unavoidable in these parts.


• 1 little plastic pull tab from a large metal can of soy sauce.


• 1 plastic gift wrap bag from a co-worker. The contents of which have already been re-gifted. Yes, it was plastic. And in fact, the day I received the gift, I was in an ornery mood and considered posting it on my blog and ranting about the uselessness of the present. But then I decided I didn't want to be an a**hole that day. So I didn't. Are we glad?

Okay. This year is almost finished. If I have a chance this weekend, I'll photograph and post one shot of my 2008 new plastic waste. It all fits into one big cat litter bag. I was hoping to keep it under 5 pounds for the year, but those wacky clamshells this week put me over the top. Here's hoping 2009 is even lighter!
 

Stories@deadgadgets.com wants your dead gadget stories!

Remember this picture of my plastic waste from Week 35? Remember my rant about the HP monitor that couldn't be fixed and how HP makes products that have to be replaced rather than repaired? I ranted here. I ranted on the Californians Against Waste site. I ranted in emails to HP. And then I found out about The Electronics Take Back Coalition (http://www.computertakeback.com).

The Electronics Take Back Coalition is a national coalition of environmental and consumer groups who promote green design and responsible recycling in the consumer electronics industry. They have several strategies, including:

• Promoting legislation to require manufacturers to take back and recycle our old electronics


• Using direct public pressure on manufacturers to offer responsible recycling programs to their customers, and to adopt green design principles.


• Working with institutional purchasers to amplify the demand for green products.


• Promoting recyclers who adhere to responsible electronics recycling practices and exposing the impacts of low-road recycling, including the exporting of e-waste to poor countries around the world.


• They are currently campaigning to get TV companies (www.takebackmytv.com) to offer free TV recycling, as many TVs will become obsolete when HD becomes the standard.

All this is great. It's a good step. But I didn't want to recycle my monitor. I wanted to be able to fix it and keep using it. So I wrote to the Coalition to ask if they are addressing the issue of planned obsolescence of electronics and the inability to repair them rather than recycling, and I got a reponse back from Barbara Kyle, the National Coordinator:

We have focused on the recycling end of the e-waste problem. But we want to do more on promoting reuse, and green design concepts that allow us to hang on to our electronic products longer, and to upgrade them to keep up with advances in technology. So far, the industry has focused on energy as the primary criteria for “green design.” While we don’t disagree that energy use by the product is important, the energy used to create new products is even more significant, and could be reduced if our products simply lasted longer.

We want dead gadget stories!

We would love to receive stories just like the one you documented on your blog, showing clearly how products simply can’t be fixed or upgraded, because of clear choices made by the product designers.

Please send your stories to Stories@deadgadgets.com and include the following information:

1. Make and model


2. Year they bought it. Is it under warranty?


3. Why it’s dead. (Doesn’t turn on, won’t reboot, can’t upgrade it to run certain software, etc)


4. Steps taken to try to fix it, or cost to fix it. (Here’s where your story was incredibly compelling. You didn’t just say your monitor died – you found someone who tried to fix it, identified the part needed, made the call, and then was rebuffed. So asking your readers to fill in this part would be great. Making the call to get an estimate on what it would cost to fix it (vs replace it) is good. But actually getting the company to say they WON'T sell you a replacement part gets to the heart of the issue. So that’s an extra step, but if you could ask them to document this, it will help us tell this story. Feel free to include whom they spoke with at the companies, so there can be no question of misunderstanding.)


5. Picture of the dead gadget. (Be sure we can see the manufacturer name or logo!) For our dead gadget gallery (soon to come).

This request includes broken TELEVISIONS, not just computer-type devices.

Barbara also added that if there are any serious reuse and upgrade geeks out here, she'd love to talk to them in more detail about how they could do a more thorough “study” of this issue, trends they see with different companies, etc.

So if you've suffered similar frustrations to what I have, please, please, please take a minute to send your story to Stories@deadgadgets.com and help persuade companies to take responsbility for the products they release into the world.

OH! And if you're a blogger, please post this request on your blog! Let's make it viral!
 

Week 36 Results: .6 oz of plastic waste. The day has finally come!

Oh joy! I've been waiting for the week when my plastic waste would finally fit easily in my own two hands, and this was that week. Don't get me wrong. We still have plastic in this house that we're using up, and the tally will go up again. But it's nice to savor small victories.

Items used this week but purchased before the plastic project began:

• Approximately 7 feet of packing tape. I pulled this tape off an old box I cut up to use to make a barrier to keep kitties from chewing electrical cords. In fact, I'm so tickled with Michael's and my ingenuity, I'm gonna post photos of the setup below.

New plastic waste:

• 2 Refresh Endura single-use eye drop containers

Now, here's my plastic-free kitty project for the week. I needed a way to keep the kittens from getting to the tangled mass of electrical cords behind our TV/stereo stand. I wish I had a before picture to show you. It was a real mess back there and the kitties loved it.

Lots of people were recommending I get one of those plastic cord covers, but a plastic cord cover is made from, you know, plastic. I tried making a jalapeno pepper spray and coating the cords with it to keep them from chewing, but it didn't really work. The only good solution would be a physical barrier. The problem was that the TV stand was open on all 4 sides, and the cats would basically dive through. Here's what the front looks like now.


I know the cardboard doesn't look so great, but really only the cats can see it. I had to lie on the floor to take the picture. From an adult human vantage-point, it's not very noticeable. So anyway, the cats can't get through to the back very easily. But they still could climb over if there were enough enticement, like lots of loose tangled cords. So this is what I did in the back:




The shoe box was Michael's idea. There are holes in the bottom through which the cords come up from under the stand. The Smart Strip Power Strip, which I wrote about in a previous post, wouldn't completely fit in the box. But that's okay because having it stick out makes accessing the switch easier. The cardboard is attached using brown paper tape, which we already had. Any other cords that were loose or dangly I tried to find a way to tape down... tape to the wall, to back of the TV, to whatever. There's still one loose cord leading to a speaker, but it's in the back and so far they haven't noticed it.

This might not be the most beautiful solution in the world, but it required no new materials to construct and so far is working just fine. I haven't caught either of them back there since I set it up on Monday, which is the point.
 

Week 35 Results: 50.1 oz of plastic waste. HP Sucks!

I like to think of myself as pretty Zen, mellow, going with the flow. Eh hmm... my ego likes to think that about me. So I write posts about loving what is and being mindful of little things like cheese wrappers and taking time out for silence. But sometimes, a gal just wants to vent. And this is one of those times. HP sucks, ya'll! HP can bite my ass!

The beautiful 19" LCD monitor you see in the photo is not just a nice backdrop for this week's plastic waste. It is this week's plastic waste. And metal. And who knows what else. And no amount of learning to fix stuff or even learning to fix stuff will make it better. Here's the tally:

Items used this week but purchased before the plastic project began:

• 1 plastic seal from a bottle of cayenne pepper. Purchased a long time ago and never opened until this week. It does seem to still be good.


• 1 Liquid Silk lube bottle (#3 PVC plastic!) and pump. I already discussed this product in my post last week about using olive oil as personal lubricant. Normally, when I have a product in a plastic bottle, I finish up the rest of it before adding the container to the tally. This time though, after learning about the ingredients in Liquid Silk, I decided to discard the rest of the bottle using the method required by the State of California for disposing of PPCPs (pharmaceuticals and personal care products.) I mixed it up with a bunch of cat litter, poured it into an old milk carton, and put it in the trash. Flushing is NOT recommended for products that contain harmful chemicals. Unfortunately, the landfill is the best option we have for stuff like this.


• 1 HP vs19d LCD monitor. So here's the rant. Last Saturday, I turned on my computer as usual, pressed the button on my monitor, and nothing happened. The computer came on. The monitor did not. I made sure all the cables were connected. I plugged it into different outlets. Nothing. Not even a blink. I called HP. The monitor, which is only 1-1/2 years old, is out of warranty. The 3-year warranty I purchased with the system only covers the computer, not the monitor. But they'd be happy to sell me a new one.
  
  No way. I'm the girl who fixes things instead of replacing them. So I got out my Yellow Pages (One reason to keep a Yellow Pages around... you never know when your computer will go down and you'll need to find a computer technician without looking them up via your computer!) and found a local guy, Leon Pang at Domino Computer (he's awesome, by the way) who said he might be able to fix the monitor. I headed straight over to his place and dropped it off.
  
  Monday, he called me with bad news. He had opened up the monitor, tested the circuits, figured out where the problem was and what part was needed (a particular board), called HP, only to be told that HP will not sell replacement boards for these monitors. They will only sell a whole new monitor. This board is not something you can find on eBay or elsewhere. It's specific to that monitor and if HP won't sell it, you're screwed.
  
  So I bought a lightly-used monitor from a guy on Craigslist to replace that one. The "new" one is a Dell. I'm hoping to have better luck with it. In the meantime, I'm stuck with this piece of HP crap in my plastic purgatory (and I say crap because the computer I bought from HP [Pavilion d4600y, if you want to know] has been one headache after another too, although because of the warranty I've been able to get it fixed each time.)
  
  I know there are places to take our old electronics to be recycled. GreenSight is a program that Costco uses that says it "conforms to a 'Zero Landfill/No Export' Policy by working with only ISO 14001 certified partners who recycle and refine these materials for remanufacturing into new products." That's fine. It's better than sending toxic e-waste over seas. But wouldn't it be better if equipment were manufactured so that it could be repaired when broken? Why does my LCD screen and plastic housing have to be melted down and recycled when all that's needed is a small board inside?
  
  Anyway, I'm stuck with the broken monitor because of my policy this year of holding onto all my plastic waste instead of sending it off god knows where to be recycled. And believe it or not, I actually estimated the weight of the plastic parts by taking a screw driver to the thing myself and separating out the metal from the plastic because that's the sort of thing that someone like me does on a Sunday afternoon after cooking huevos rancheros completely from scratch. More on that later.
  
  So, did I just let this issue go? Of course not. I've already written to the CEO of HP as well as told my story on the web site of Californians Against Waste, an organization that is working on legislation to handle toxic e-waste. Here's the text of my message to HP via the CEO's contact form:
  
  Dear Mark Hurd:
  
  Nowadays, most companies are trying to "green" their operations. I'm sure HP is looking into ways to be more environmentally friendly. With that in mind, I'd like to share a disappointing experience I had this week with an HP product:
  
  A year and a half ago I bought an HP desktop computer and 19" LCD monitor (vs19d) directly from HP. Since then, I've had many problems with the computer and even had to replace a burned-out power supply. But since I had purchased a 3-year warranty, the problems were resolved by your support staff.
  
  Then, last week, my monitor stopped working. It wouldn't power up. I called HP and was told the monitor was not covered by the 3-year warranty and that I'd just have to buy a new one. I asked if they could fix it, and they said it would cost more than the price of a new monitor to fix and they would not do it.
  
  So I took the monitor to a local computer technician, who opened it up, tested the circuits, figured out where the problem was, called HP to order a replacement board, and was told that they will not sell these parts. They will only sell a whole new monitor. This technician is from China and told me that in China he would have had access to a replacement part but that they were not available in the U.S.
  
  It is this kind of business policy that is creating so much toxic e-waste for the planet. Even if the monitor can be recycled, why should the energy and transportation be expended to recycle an old monitor and manufacture a new one when all the old monitor needs is a new board and there are computer-savvy technicians who are capable of installing such a part?
  
  I believe that for computer companies to go green, it's important to create modular products with parts that can easily be replaced rather than requiring the entire machine to be trashed. And I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter.
  
  I have reported this story to Californians Against Waste (http://www.cawrecycles.org), an organization that is working on ways to eliminate the problem of e-waste, and I plan on writing about it on my own personal web site, http://www.fakeplasticfish.com.
  
  I would love to be able to report that HP is taking steps to correct this problem. Thanks so much for your time.
  
  Beth Terry
  
  As always, I'll let you know if I hear anything back from HP. Whew. Now I can put this puppy to rest.

And now on to this week's new plastic waste:

• 1 Refresh Endura single-use eye drop container.


• 1 plastic cap from a glass bottle of Kahlúa. Whatever possessed me to buy a bottle of liquor with a plastic cap? It surely wasn't a necessity. But a few months ago I wasn't being as careful as I am this year. I have no other excuse.

Now I'm interested to hear your frustrating (or successful) electronics stories.
 

Learning To Fix Stuff, Part 2

On January 2, I reported about my broken plastic hairdryer and how I was hoping to fix it during my visit to my electronics technician (not "electrician," there's a difference I'm told) dad in Hawaii. Well, I'm happy to report that it's fixed. He was able to figure out what part was bad and knew just where to go to get a replacement. Then, he also knew how to attach the replacement part once we found it. He's my hero.

After using a screwdriver to take it apart (which I'd already done in the end of December), you need an ohmmeter or multimeter to test the circuitry. As I was attempting to write this post last night, I realized I didn't know how to explain how my dad used his multimeter to test the wires. So I asked him to send me an explanation, and this is what he wrote:

Switch the multimeter to measure ohms. (Ω)

Two leads (a 'hot' and a 'common') attach to the plug, the common directly entering the dryer and attaching to one side of the heat coil, the hot connecting to the other side of heat coil thru the switch.

Test the continuity of each lead from the AC plug into the guts of the dryer, measuring the resistance (which should be close to zero) of each. A heat coil has zero resistance to DC but has some resistance to AC, which is why it gets hot, like a light bulb.

When the switch is operated to put the heat coil in series with the two leads from the plug, a resistance of near zero should be obtained on the meter. Finding, instead, a very high resistance (many ohms, over a million) means there is an open somewhere between the two lines. Resistance readings are then measured of each component which is in series with the 2 leads from the plug. This is how it was determined that the thermal fuse had operated (operation of a fuse means it has opened up, stopping current flow).

Basically, his tests revealed that the thermal fuse was blown. A thermal fuse (or thermal cutout) is used to prevent the dryer from catching on fire. If the temperature inside reaches a certain level, the fuse will break and the circuit will be broken so electricity can no longer flow. How does a dryer get that hot inside? If the user has allowed the air vents to completely clog up so that outside air can't get in and cool it off. So, what I learned is that I need to maintain my appliances (like cleaning out air vents) so that they don't break in the first place!

By looking really closely, we were able to decipher the specs printed on the outside of the old fuse: 10A, 250V, 113°C. My dad said a new thermal fuse needed to have at least those ratings, but could be rated for a slightly higher temperature as well, if we couldn't find an exact replacement. Fortunately, having worked as an electronics technician for the phone company in Honolulu back in the 60's, he knew exactly where to go to get a new one. Precision Radio Ltd. at 1160 S. King Street has been operating since 1942 (20 years before my dad's time on the island) and they had just the replacement fuse we needed.

Dad used a soldering iron to make a strong connection between the leads on the thermal fuse and the connectors on the appliance. Michael and I don't own our own soldering iron, but I checked the offerings of the Oakland tool library, and they do, so if I had to do this again at home, I'd be able to without investing in a new soldering iron. The only plastic I ended up with was the small bag in which the thermal fuse was packaged.

And it worked! The hardest part for me was remembering how to put everything back together again. I'd taken the dryer apart in the end of December and didn't write any notes about what went where. So it was a puzzle for me, but finally, I got it together and can use it again. (That's me doing the head upside-down hair drying thing I've been doing since Junior High.) Now I can return my friend Mark's dryer that he lent me until mine was fixed.

It feels so nice to be able to fix what I have instead of buying a new one. It feels like a responsible, adult thing to do. And the throw-away mentality that's so prevalent these days seems kinda immature to me. Maybe we just need everyone to grow up a bit!

Anyway, the same day we were fixing the hair dryer, my dad got an email from his friend, Derek Hullinger, who was just able to fix his PDA. Now, there's a challenge! I asked if I could reprint the email here, because I thought it was so cool how determined he was to fix it himself and not trash it for a new one. Here's what he wrote:

Yesterday, I finally got Weston's PDA fixed and returned to him! This was a big and exciting thing for me, so I'm going to tell you all about it. I had bought it for him on eBay on behalf of my parents for Christmas, and I felt really bad when it turned out the back light didn't work. The person who shipped it to me claimed it had worked for her before she shipped it, which it probably did. It's nearly the same as mine, except that it has a built-in mp3 player.

Weston and I both learned from online research that the back light problem is a common malady for this model, and it was caused by a cable inside being too long and clamping between two metal plates, causing it to break. I found a website (in Japanese) that showed how to repair it, but it required extreme care because there are four parallel wires in a very small cable that each had to be soldered.

Well, we quickly discovered that we couldn't even get the thing open because it required a special screwdriver with three wings. I found an online company in Hong Kong that sold the screwdriver for 95 cents (including shipping--what a deal!), and we waited two weeks for it to arrive. Then I opened it up and enlisted the aid of a fellow I work with to see if the cable was the cause of the trouble and to fix it. It was indeed broken, but he had trouble with the tiny work and enlisted my boss to help.

So my boss soldered it on Friday and I I went in yesterday to put it back together, only to discover that it still didn't work! So I opened it up and found that the joint had broken again (my boss had not quite soldered it right--he hadn't been instructed properly), so I decided it was up to me. I'm not too confident in my own mechanical abilities--I've had some real trouble with simple car maintenance things before. But I went at it, and I managed to fix the cable myself. It took a few tries before the solder joints were quite right (I didn't get a good connection on one of the wires the first time, and I accidentally shorted two of the wires the second time).

On the last try, I hooked everything up and turned the thing on, and it didn't even go on! I thought, "oh no! I've broken it!" But I didn't have any idea how I'd broken it, and the solder joint was kind of a mess and hard to tell whether one of them was not connected right, so I went ahead and put it the back on anyway, feeling dejected.

Then, when it was all back together, it worked, back light and all! I guess something needed to be in contact that hadn't connected until it was all back together! Anyway, I was delighted, but I kept turning it on to make sure it was still working. As of this morning, it's still working great, so I guess everything's fine! Whew!

These are the kinds of stories we need to hear more of!
 

Learning To Fix Stuff, Part 1

Back in August, when Fake Plastic Fish was less than two months old, and I'd only recently become aware of my plastic consumption, my sandal broke. In fact, the elastic strap had become so worn, I had a feeling it might break that very day as I left the house and packed an extra pair of flip flops just in case. Sure enough, it snapped as I was walking down the street. The old me would have automatically tossed them out and bought a new pair. But these were some of my most comfortable shoes, and I didn't want to waste them, plastic or not, so I found a shoe repair shop down the street and had them fixed in fifteen minutes.

This might seem like a very simple, common sense thing to those of you who have been trying to live frugally, simply, and greenly for longer than I, but at the time, I felt so proud I wanted to call my friends and tell them the news: Guess what! We don't have to throw stuff out! There are people who can fix it!

Since then, I've had a few more opportunities to fix things instead of throwing them away. For example, for months, my computer mouse was operating eratically, refusing to move the pointer where I wanted it to. The old me would have junked it and bought a new one, but this was the new me. Determined to make it work again instead of getting a new hunk of plastic, I found an article on eHow.com called How To Clean And Fix A Mouse and was all set to take the mouse apart when I remembered hearing somewhere that if the surface the mouse rolls on is too slippery, the mouse might not operate properly. I was using a bare desk without a mouse pad. So I tried slipping a piece of paper under the mouse, and sure enough, that did the trick.

Recently, the wire on my favorite cheese slicer snapped. I've had this things for many years, and it's served me well. Surely I could find a replacement wire for it. This, however, turned out to be a more difficult task than I expected. I visited multiple hardware stores with my cheese slicer attempting to find the right kind of wire. They all seemed to have something called "galvanized steel," which apparently is not rust-proof or strong enough. I'm glad I actually asked for advice instead of just buying the first wire that looked similar to the one that broke.

Finally, one hardware store salesperson recommended I check a kitchenware type of store instead. So I called Sur Le Table, which seems to have locations in many states, and sure enough, they carried stainless steel replacement wires for cheese slicers. Unfortunately, as you can see below, they come in a plastic zip-lock bag.



So there's the dilemma: a small plastic bag vs. a sturdy stainless steel kitchen tool. The kitchen tool won. I do wonder if I had checked further if I could have found stainless steel wire not packaged in plastic. But I'm pretty pleased that I was able to easily "restring" my slicer on New Year's Eve just in time for the nice cheese our friends brought to our little party.

Now here's my current fix-it problem. A blow dryer. Some of you might be thinking that a blow dryer is not the greenest thing to have and use in the first place. And you would be right. No arguments there. But the fact is that I do use a blow dryer on my hair for a minute or two each morning, and this one just suddenly stopped working. When I turn it on, nothing happens. Nothing. (And yes, it stopped working BEFORE I took it apart to examine it!) And yes, I have tried pressing the reset button. And yes, I have also cleaned out the air vents.

So my friend Mark was nice enough to lend me his hair dryer until I get this one fixed in Hawaii in a few weeks. Why in Hawaii? Because that's where my electrician dad is with his pro multimeter, which we will use to figure out what's wrong with it. The trip was already planned. I visit them in Hawaii every January for my mom's and my birthdays. (No, flying to Hawaii is not very green either, alas.) Fixing the hair dryer is a bonus father/daughter bonding experiment. I found these instructions online, which hopefully will help: HowStuffWorks.com's How To Fix A Hair Dryer. If we do figure it out, I'll post the step-by-step process with photos.

The big question is why we don't know how to fix things already. Why does it require all this research? And how many times have you taken an appliance to a repair place, only to be told that it's not worth it to fix and that you should junk it and buy a new one? Everything has value and is worth fixing or repurposing in some way. But it's not always easy to figure out how, these days. Have you all watched The Story of Stuff? It think there's a clue in that video about why this is so.
 

Smart Strips are REALLY smart!

So, at the end of my gloomy post yesterday (yes, I was a little depressed) I said I'd write about some things we've done here at Chez Terry/Stoler to save energy. Most of it is either stuff you've probably heard a million times (use CFLs instead of incandescent bulbs, use a programmable thermostat, use cold water to wash clothes, open the drapes during the day and close them at night, turn off lights when leaving a room, turn off the computer at night and while out of the house.) Other measures are things I've already written about here: not owning a car and buying carbon offsets for the few times we travel by plane or Flexcar, buying very few new things in general and opting for products with the least packaging, buying as locally as possible to avoid transportation energy costs. Other things, like buying energy-saving appliances or renovating our house are not options for us because we rent.

Another energy-saving measure that I really like is an item that's, ironically, made of plastic. Its the Smart Strip power strip from Bits Ltd.

The strip works for combinations of electronics that work together, like a computer system, or an entertainment system. You choose one electronic component as the Control and plug it into the blue Control outlet. Then, you plug other components that are useless if the control is off into the white Automatically Switched outlets. And finally, electronics that always need to be ready are plugged into the red Constant Hot outlets.

Here's how I've done it in my living room. My combo receiver/DVD/CD player is the Control because without it on, I have no sound for the system, so nothing else needs to be on if that one is off. Then, my TV, VCR, turntable, and iPod dock are plugged into the Auto-Switch outlets. When I turn off the power button on the remote of my receiver/DVD/CD player, the power is cut to that and all the other components in the Auto-Switch outlets. And when I say cut, I mean like unplugging them all from the wall. When I press the power button on, the receiver/DVD/CD player turns on and power flows to the other components making them available to be used, but not actually turning them on.

Yes, we do have a lot of electronic equipment, I'm realizing as I write this list. And yes, it's aaaaallllll plastic. But it's plastic we bought before we became aware of plastic, and now that we have the Smart Strip, it's plastic that's rarely on. I pretty much watch movies and play the stereo on weekends, being way too busy during the rest of the week learning about plastic!

Anyway, after plugging in those components, I plug my lamp, my cable amplifier (because the cable is split and also comes into my computer), and my headphone charger into the Constant Hot outlets because I want them to be able to operate even if the rest of the system is off. The Smart Strip is easier than a regular power strip because you don't have to remember to flip the switch. When you turn off the control device, everything else that needs to be off turns off too.

I also use a second Smart Strip for my computer system. This time, my monitor is plugged into the blue Control outlet. Why not the computer? Because if I leave the room for a few minutes, I want to be able to turn off the monitor and all the peripherals without having to turn off the computer completely. (It'll go into Power Save mode on its own after a few minutes.) So I operate the computer separately. Anyway, the printer, speakers, and any other peripherals are plugged into the Auto-Switch outlets. My desk lamp is plugged into Constant Hot. When I leave the room, I turn off my monitor, and all the other peripherals shut down as well. When I leave the house or go to bed, I shut down the computer and turn off the monitor, and everything turns off.

Okay, so about the plastic. Yes, the Smart Strip is made from it. But one thing you can do to somewhat lessen the impact is to buy refurbished Smart Strips. Bits Ltd does repair and recycle any that they receive back. I had to wait a few weeks for mine because they didn't have any in stock when I first called. The refurbished units cost less, but they seem to work just as well as new ones. I have been using mine for a couple of months now with no problems.

When ordering, I included a note to the company to please ship with no plastic or Styrofoam, and the strips arrived without any packaging at all except for the cardboard boxes they came in. I don't know if there would have been packaging if I hadn't asked.

So that's my tip for this week that will culminate in the National Day of Climate Action on Saturday. And now I need your help.

What company makes CFLs that are not packaged in plastic? I know we can't avoid the plastic in the body of the CFL itself. But I'd like not to have to deal with a crazy plastic nearly impossible to open blister pack again. Suggestions?
 

Learning to share (and borrow)

This weekend, I had a conversation with my dad about what to do with certain possessions if he rented out their condo in Hawaii. "I'd have to store a lot of books," he said. And it got me realizing that one of the best ways to reduce our consumption, plastic and otherwise, is through borrowing and sharing items that we don't need access to on a regular basis.

I understand his attachment to books. They are part of his identity. And for English major me, some books do have sentimental value. But the majority of the books that I read do not. For a while, I was buying used books and then Freecycling them. But then Michael got his library science degree, and suddenly the idea of borrowing rather than owning became an option I hadn't considered since elementary school. So now, when I want to read something, I try to borrow it from the library or from a friend before thinking about whether I want to purchase it.

But libraries are not just for books these days, or even just videos and CDs. Many cities have tool lending libraries, either as part of the public library system like here in Oakland, or as part of the Public Works Department. Wikipedia has a list of tool lending libraries in the world. I'm not sure how comprehensive it is. Maybe your town has one that's not listed. The beauty of Wikipedia is that anyone can update it.

I've seen posts online that claim that the average power drill gets used anywhere between 3 to 20 minutes during its entire lifetime. Why does every family need to have their own power drill (or table saw or belt sander) when many people could share the same piece of equipment easily and with much less cost to the environment?

If you don't have a tool lending library, think about borrowing tools or appliances from friends. A few weeks ago, I ran out of ground cinnamon but found some cinnamon sticks in the back of the cupboard that had never been used. If only I had a spice grinder or even a coffee grinder. I placed an ad on Freecycle and looked for a used one at Goodwill. Then, it occurred to me that even if I found one, I'd probably only use it a couple of times. So I asked my friend, Nancy, and sure enough, she had one to lend. I got my ground cinnamon and one less plastic item to clutter my kitchen.

I think borrowing from friends sometimes is good for us. It can be humbling for those who like to feel that they are self-sufficient. And a little humility is not a bad thing in a world full of entitled individuals consuming far more than they need. Of course, being willing to share is also important, as is taking care of what you borrow and getting it back to its owner in a timely fashion!

But back to libraries. Another hunk of plastic you can avoid buying is a personal computer. Now, Michael and I do have our own computers which we use every day. But Michael's mom uses the computer at the local library, and another friend of mine only uses the computer at her job. For those people who aren't as cyber-addicted as me, borrowing computer time might be a great resource-, as well as money-, saving option.

And finally, the biggest hunk of plastic that Michael and I share rather than own is a car. For those of us who live in urban areas with excellent public transportation, owning a car can be an expensive pain in the butt. And renting cars is a hassle, what with waiting in line and filling out paperwork each time. Instead, we belong to Flexcar, one of the three car-sharing companies in the Bay Area (along with Zipcar and City Car Share.) We borrow the car once or twice per month for shopping or driving somewhere inaccessible by BART or bus. It's way less expensive than owning a car and we save a ton of plastic in the process. Check out this cNet article about the increasing use of plastics in cars.

What other things do you borrow or lend that I haven't thought of? Reducing the amount of stuff I collect is a big part of this project and any suggestions for ways to borrow rather than own are welcome!
 

Electronics: Thoughts about RCA, iPhones, & the pursuit of happiness

Thanks to the folks over at Sustainable Is Good for pointing out that RCA plans to save 450 tons of plastic in the next two years by making smaller, environmentally-friendly paper gift box containers to replace the older clamshell packages in an initiative called “Smart Packing,” which they say has already saved over 81 tons of extra plastic.

I applaud this move on RCA's part, and if I ever need to buy another electronic gadget, I'll check out RCA-brand first, as well as any other brands that may be switching to similar packaging.

But we can't forget that the electronics themselves are made of plastic and other non-renewable materials, and we need to ask ourselves before purchasing new electronics if we really need them and if they will really make us happy.

On Friday, June 29, I was walking along Shattuck Ave in downtown Berkeley when I came upon a huge line of people wrapping around the block. It was the kind of line you see at a box office when some mega-star is coming to town or at a bookstore when the latest Harry Potter installment is released. I asked one of the guys in line (yes, it was mostly guys) what they were waiting for, and one of them replied kinda snarkily, "Jesus." Like what kind of an idiot was I not to know that the iPhone was being released that day and that if you didn't stand in line for hours at the AT&T store to be the first to get one, you might as well crawl back under your rock and die.

I should have asked each and every person in that line if they already had a working cell phone. I should have aked them all if they already had an iPod. I should have taken a poll. I should have made a ruckus. Instead, I continued on my way, ranting to my sister on my cell phone about how ridiculous this whole phenomenon was. "What's going to happen to all those old cell phones?!?!? Where are they going to end up?!? In landfills, that's where. What's WRONG with these people???"

What's wrong with them is the same thing that's wrong with me and most Americans. We think that newer and better technology is going to make us happy. And, while I admit that I thoroughly enjoy watching the new 37" flat screen TV we bought last year, I wonder if I'm actually that much happier overall than I was before we bought it. And is that little bit of pleasure worth all the resources, energy, possibly human suffering that went into providing it to me?

I've discovered that since I started this project, I'm buying far fewer things than I used to. And it's not only because so many products come packaged in or are made out of plastic, although that's a big reason. It's that with a cause to work on, with ideas to wrap my brain around, and a problem that needs my creativity, I simply don't have as much desire to stock up on material possessions. I'm not saying the desire is gone; but it's simply not as strong.