Friends, I think this is very timely =) FYI Thanks for the tip Hardwyrd Regards, Yolynne UNESCO is launching a free practical guide to computer recycling for entrepreneurs and project sponsors, on the occasion of a conference on Digital Solidarity being held in Lyon (France). UNESCO's partners in this project are the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), French consultants Tic Ethic, non-governmental organizations, Emmaüs Solidarité Ouagadougou and Ateliers du Bocage, along with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The publication of this guide comes amidst growing concern over the impact computer equipment waste on health and environment. According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Gartner consultancy, there will be almost 4 billion mobile telephones in use by the end of this year, while the number of personal computers has already passed the billion mark. The good news behind these figures is that the digital divide is shrinking - 58% of computers are in developed countries but, this share is expected to drop to 30% by 2014 when the total number of personal computers should reach two billion. But there is another side to the coin: this year, almost 180 million computers have been replaced by new machines, and an estimated 35 million computers dumped, despite the toxic substances they contain. The Entrepreneur's Guide to Computer Recycling is published in English, and will soon also be available in French. The purpose of the guide is to help develop the skills required to handle the growing flux of waste generated by the market for new and used computers so as to protect the environment and public health. This global problem particularly affects developing countries. More info @ <a href="http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27768&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27768&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html</a> -- ======================================= YOLYNNE MEDINA Networking Specialist for IOSN ASEAN+3 <a href="http://www.iosn.net">http://www.iosn.net</a> | <a href="http://yolynne.wordpress.com">http://yolynne.wordpress.com</a> ym: yolynne.rm googletalk: yolynne skype: ynmedina IRC nick: ulinskie server: <a href="http://irc.freenode.net">irc.freenode.net</a> Channels: #iosn #ubuntu-ph #ubuntu-women "Laughter nourishes our Soul" =======================================