Researchers and businesses are advancing innovative ideas with potential for mainstream Green ICT. These range from products and services available today to futuristic concepts for tomorrow. The latest is Dell's gold recycling program, including the creation of jewelry from motherboard gold.

Updates from the Americas (ex-USA). Click here for regional Green ICT updates from around the globe. Click on 'Americas' tag above for all news about the region.

The Global E-waste Monitor 2017 reports, "In Latin America, 4.2 Mt of e-waste was estimated to be generated in 2016, with an average of 7.1 kg/ inh. The Latin American countries with the highest e-waste generation are: Brazil 1.5 Mt, Mexico 1 Mt, and Argentina 0.4 Mt. The top three countries in Latin America with the highest e-waste generation in relative quantities in 2016 were Uruguay (10.8 kg/ inh), Chile (8.7 kg/ inh), and Argentina (8.4 kg/ inh)." Mexico has the best record of e-waste collection. "Mexico collects most of the e-waste in Latin America (358 kt), which leads to a collection rate of approximately 36% compared to the e-waste generated. The collection rate in the rest of Latin America is lower than 3%." Mexico's rate of 36% is superior to the United States (22%) and Canada (20%). (A collection rate is not necessarily a measure of how much e-waste is disposed of in an environmentaly-responsible way.) The Monitor cites two regional barriers to better performance. "The main challenge with sustainable e-waste management in Latin America is the acceleration of all legislation processes." "The lack of a historical environmental culture in Latin America fuels the thought that the final user of EEE is not responsible for proper disposal and treatment."

Updates from Africa and the Middle East. Our most recent is about East Africa Green ICT workshop. Click on 'ME-Africa' tag above for all news about the region. Click here for regional Green ICT updates from around the globe.

A number of projects have sprung up in Africa to up-cycle e-waste into new technologies.

Disrupt Africa reported in 2015, "Tanzanian innovation space Buni Hub has developed a 3D printer made from e-waste, the first of its kind in East and Central Africa...the e-waste 3D printer will be used to print prototypes and models at the hub, as well as assisting with small-scale manufacturing."

The BBC reports from Togo in 2018, "It looks like a spider and it moves like one, but this robot creature cannot just be dismissed as a toy...'I made this from a [discarded] 3D printer,' Ousia Foli-Bebe says, pointing as his robotic arachnid. 'The plastic retrieved from the printer became the arms and legs.'...Mr Foli-Bebe takes the robot spider into schools hoping to interest the students in science and recycling." Togo has a history on creative e-waste up-cycling. "[Foli-Bebe] admits he has learned a lot about recycling from others such as Gnikou Afate, who is credited with having made the first 3D printer [from e-waste] in Togo. So impressive was Mr Afate's homemade printer that it took first place at the Barcelona Fabrication Technology conference in 2015."

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Our latest update is about a missed opportunity for Green ICT purchasing. Click on the 'education' tag and you'll see more examples of Green ICT being applied educational institutions of all levels around the world..

We raised questions about the GreenICT implications of wearable technology four years ago. There seems to have been little effort made by wearable tech creators since then to address sustainability issue. A recent article from battery recycler Call2Recycle again sounds the warning.

There are compelling reasons why the global ICT for Development (ICT4D) movement can benefit by embracing Sustainable Green ICT. We are tracking how ICT4D initiatives incorporate GreenICT. So far, the ICT4D record is not very green.

Electricity and water don't mix? Our quest for innovative Green ICT concepts has turned up many unusual concepts doing just that. The latest is a proposal for submerging entire data centers.

Information and Communications Technology for Development - ICT4D - is an explosive force in the developing economies. It could become an environmentally damaging force unless Green ICT becomes an explicit part of ICT4D. Now is the time to make that happen.

Intel's white paper Solar Power for PC Deployments: Enabling ICT Beyond the Grid is a clear and consise overview of how to calculate solar capacity for off-grid ICT. The methodology is illustrated with a case study about creating a solar-powered computer lab for a school in rural Bangladesh.

Researchers around the global are exploring innovative ways to sustainably recharge the billions of edge devices attached to the global ICT infrastructure. Experiments use everything from plants to urine . (You may have to reload page to display videos.)