Sustainable Computing Model to Manage E-Waste from Low-Cost Computers

ICTs have become essential tools in everyday life hence the need to make them affordable and make their benefits available to all people. However the ICT sector is facing sustainability challenges due to speedy increase of electronic waste brought about by exponential consumer growth and the rapid obsolescence of electronic equipment. Hence there is need to embrace sustainable computing concepts that takes into consideration total impact and benefit of technology systems with regard to environmental, economic and social resources. This can be achieved if institutions adopt a culture of using sustainability metrics and reporting on recycling outcomes. This book presents a Sustainability Model for Low-Cost Computers for learning that assesses how well institutions apply sustainable computing to control computer failure and handle decommissioned computer. The sustainability assessment is achieved by computing a sustainability index that indicates how well an institution applies sustainable computing techniques and adding e-waste threat index which assesses how well an institution handles decommissioned computers.