Many of the items that we use each day are technically recyclable, from the aluminum cans we drink soda from to the very computer screen on which you read these words. But that doesn't necessarily mean people will recycle those items.
Lots of plastic water bottles end up in landfills and many electronics are shipped overseas to be disassembled, exposing people to hazardous substances. So-called "blood cell phones" fuel human rights abuses.
Some resourceful graduate students at Stanford University set out to change all that by designing a laptop computer that can be easily recycled. The idea is that the easier it is to separate a laptop's plastic innards from the metal stuff, the more likely it is they will be recycled in a responsible way.
The Bloom laptop can be completely disassembled in less than 30 seconds. Compare that to a traditional laptop, which would required three tools and take a skilled person 45 minutes to finish taking apart.
The company whose software was used in the computer help put this video together, and it's worth a gander:
To learn more about electronic waste, read our past coverage:
Photo: Courtesy of Aaron Engel-Hall
Tags: Computers, Design, EWaste, Electronics, Green Appliances
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