A little known fact about me is that I used to be a software engineer. As anyone with a practical skill or two knows, you often get roped into having a ‘quick look‘ for a friend. With my cmputing skills this translates into helping install software and fix computers. Recently peoples‘ main gripe seems to be that their computers are running very slowly and they‘re not sure why. I‘ve gone round for a ‘quick look‘ and I‘ve found the cause of the majority of peoples‘ problems to be the over-enthusiastic, resource hungry, virus checkers and the other related security software that props up Microsoft Windows.

There are various ways to cope with the problem of resource hungry security software. You can change it to one of the less demanding brands - I‘ve found the AVG free version reasonable in the past - you can change to a more secure operating system and remove the need for a demanding virus checker - I use Ubuntu which a type of Linux and a free alternative to Windows - you can add or replace components such as more memory or a faster processor, or lastly you could use it as an excuse to buy a better computer. Worryingly a lot of people that I‘ve talked to are going for this last option, creating literally mountains of unwanted computer waste. To put a number on it, DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) estimates that each year we throw away 1.2 million tonnes of electronic waste.

As responsible citizens I‘m sure you‘re all aware of the interestingly named WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive, which is the European Parliament‘s attempt to make sure that these computers - and other electronic goods - are recovered, re-used and recycled rather than being landfilled. In Reading this relies on you knowing this and not chucking them into your black bin. Instead you should take them down to the tip on Island Road and put them in the WEEE section. Unfortunately not everyone knows about WEEE, or has transport to move heavy computer equipment to the tip. So many computers go in the black bin and end up being landfilled or in the near future sent to Slough for incineration. For glass bottles we have bottle banks, so for WEEE, how about some WEEE banks? These would enable people to recycle electronic goods more locally than the tip and would advertise themselves if placed visibly around Reading.

ENDS

Notes for the editor

1. For more information, please contact Rob White on 07985 923938.