GREEN campaigners are up in arms at the idea of a new disposable technology:
throwaway DVDs. While the discs may save you the trouble of returning rental
movies to the video shop, the worry is that they could cause environmental
havoc.
The new European Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment says
data-storage media鈥攋ust like fridges, computer monitors and
televisions鈥攎ust be recycled. But pressure group Friends of the Earth
fears that disposable DVDs will lead to piles of ditched discs, just like the
mountains of furtively dumped fridges springing up in fields around Britain.
鈥淎nyone who thinks it is a nice idea to make throwaway CDs or DVDs had better
understand they will have to make them recyclable and pay to set up appropriate
recycling facilities,鈥� warns Mike Childs, a senior waste campaigner at FoE in
London. Otherwise, he says, infringers will be breaking European law.
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Hollywood has wanted a limited-play 鈥渨atch and chuck鈥� videotape or DVD format
for some years, in the hope of encouraging more people to rent home movies.
Renters could simply bin the disc alongside the remnants of their TV dinner,
runs the idea. 鈥淚t sounds like a good solution to the age-old problem of
returns,鈥� says Lavinia Carey, director general of the British Video
Association.
But making a limited-play technology has been surprisingly difficult. A US
company called Now Showing recently tested its 2View Returnless Video, a
modified VHS cassette with a mechanical lock that limits the number of plays
after rental. However, the Internet was soon abuzz with tips on how a simple
paperclip could defeat the lock.
And US retail chain Circuit City teamed up in 1998 with major Hollywood
studios, including Disney, to launch Divx, a modified DVD that only played for a
few days unless you paid extra money. But Divx flopped because people had to use
special DVD players linked to phone lines.
Despite these setbacks, studios like Disney are still looking for the ideal
system. Says a spokesman in Hollywood: 鈥淲e are aware of the various technologies
that exist regarding 鈥榣imited play鈥� and we investigate new ones as they become
补惫补颈濒补产濒别.鈥�
The wait may be over. SpectraDisc of Providence, Rhode Island, has just
patented a standard disc that is slowly destroyed by the laser beam that鈥檚 used
to read it. The 鈥渟elf-destruct鈥� DVDs and CDs are pressed from polycarbonate,
with a layer of reflective aluminium inside. SpectraDisc adds a coating of a
transparent polymer with a light-sensitive chemical in it called azobenzene.
This material tenses up when exposed to a laser beam. So as the disc is played,
the laser permanently distorts the polymer surface, defocusing the laser beam
and making the disc unplayable. This can happen after one play, or several,
depending on the polymer blend.
Any potentially dangerous chemicals are sealed inside the polymer, says
SpectraDisc鈥攂ut it鈥檚 the sheer volume of potential waste that鈥檚 angering
environmentalists. In 2000, 186 million videotapes were rented in Britain. So as
people gradually switch to the DVD format in coming years, the waste issue could
become a profound problem. And the record industry may add to it by making
throwaway promotional CDs, a spokesman says.
SpectraDisc is undaunted. 鈥淭wo Hollywood studios are evaluating the idea
right now,鈥� says Nabil Lawandy, chief executive of SpectraDisc, who says that
the discs can be recycled by removing their coating. But whether Hollywood will
be willing to pay for the recycling of hundreds of millions of discs remains to
be seen.