That's a lot of tyres. But at least this huge mountain of rubber in Westley, California is being used to fire a powerplant; the fridges overleaf (Sweden) have just been dumped and left to release their CFCs into the atmosphere, and the plastic canisters (East Germany) will never biodegrade. And if you thought computer technology was going to save the planet, think again. It's estimated that by the end of the century 1 million computers will be thrown away in the UK each year. That's a helluva lot of ferrous metals, plastics, batteries and other hazardous materials. Currently, only 1% of electronic waste is recycled. As if that wasn't bad enough, a study recently carried out by the Australian Conservation Foundation revealed that far from initiating the much vaunted "paperless office", over the last ten years the widespread use of computers Down Under has in fact produced a four-fold increase in the consumption of copy paper. Which may be a drop in the ocean compared to the detritus left over from the countless wars of the 20th century: enormous tank and bomber parks in the US and vast post-Gulf War gun dumps in Kuwait, not to mention the millions of land mines left buried all over the world. And then, of course, there's the nuclear legacy. Don't put this idyllic Pacific atoll on your holiday itinerary: it's scheduled to be used as an atomic dustbin.