Someone has written a Linux kernel patch which allows it to use
defective RAM modules.
The patch finds damaged areas and marks them as unusable (not unlike bad
sectors on hard disks), allowing the good ~99% of the module to be used,
rather than leaching into the water table in a landfill. If this idea takes
off, if Microsoft put it into Windows and RAM manufacturers start selling
imperfect memory cheaply rather than trashing it, it could ease the
environmental costs of computer manufacturing.