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“Going Green” is certainly a very popular buzzword for many companies in the past few years.  In an attempt to capitalize on that, many tech companies like Apple and Dell (and stores like Best Buy) have taken up recycling programs.  In terms of the companies, however, it usually involves buying a product from them (and in Dell’s case, they’ll only take Dell branded items). 

Toshiba is taking a different approach.  Toshiba will accept any sort of electronics from cell phones to computer to video game systems, all without having to buy a single thing.  Toshiba wants to recycle any sort of “e-waste” you might have regardless of where you buy electronics or what kind of electronics you buy.  Toshiba will even pay you for recycling as a trade-in (which, admittedly Best Buy has offered before).  For example, my two year old MacBook Pro would get me $325,, and a $25 Starbucks gift card.  Not bad if I wanted to get rid of my computer.

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Apple is now allowing anyone to recycle their no-longer-used mobile phone for free. Simply bring your mobile phone into any Apple retail location or complete the process online and ship the phone in. The phone recycling program will allow any brand phone to be turned in with no charge to the person, Apple will even pay the shipping costs for those being mailed in.

In addition to phone recycling, Apple will also accept any iPod for recycling. The iPod program is also free free, similar to the setup for the mobile phones. There is a program for CPU recycling, but in order to have your old computer or monitor recycled you have to purchase a new computer or monitor from Apple.

Via [textually.org]

We’re not talkin’ origami, creative wrapping ideas or scrapbooking. This is honest-to-goodness paper that wipes clean after a day and can be reused. It’s paper recycling at its finest.

The experimental self-erasing paper was developed by Research Centre of Canada and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Inc.) and still in the experimental phase. PARC developed a special printer that uses a light bar to provide a specific wavelength of light as a writing source. The paper contains a compound that changes color when it absorbs certain wavelengths of light, which also allows the writing to gradually disappear in 16-24 hours or immediately erase with exposure to heat. No word yet on exactly how many re-uses you can get out of a single sheet.

According to Xerox’s site, they estimate two out of five pages printed in the office are for single-view use including e-mails, Web pages and reference materials. This would certainly help to cut down on the amount of paper ending up in landfills. Xerox has filed a patent and only refer to it as “erasable paper,” though I’m sure they’ll come up with a few more creative names for it.

Just think of the possible uses: Secure documents with a guaranteed expiration date, a substitute for all those tiny sticky notes you pile on top of each other, secret notes, a temporary recipe card, a place you can doodle all day, every day and not waste a single sheet of paper. It’s very Mission Impossible without all the smoke (unless, of course, you overheat the paper when erasing it).

Read [Xerox]

It is nice to see that the industry we are in has some care and compassion for the earth we live in. Google updated their logo for mother earth, Microsoft has gone green by installing the largest solar farm (on the Silicone Valley Microsoft roofs) in tech valley, and Apple has bumped up their electronics recycling program. Sprint, Verizon, Dell Staples, and others are trying to take care of the world we live in. There are tons of things that you can do to help besides just participating in the above electronic recycling programs, for us we’re starting by opening the blinds to save some electricity.