I’d like to get on my soap-box for a minute. How many of you who read this recycle your cell phones, TVs, or computers when you’re done with them? I love recycling and attempting to save this dying planet that we live on. I applaud those who take such a view on this issue.
According to Chris Carroll’s - National Geographic Article “As viewers prepare for the switch (to HD TV), about 25 million TVs are taken out of service yearly. In the fashion-conscious mobile market, 98 million U.S. cell phones took their last call in 2005. All told, the EPA estimates that in the U.S. that year, between 1.5 and 1.9 million tons of computers, TVs, VCRs, monitors, cell phones, and other equipment were discarded. If all sources of electronic waste are tallied, it could total 50 million tons a year worldwide, according to the UN Environment Programme.”
Unfortunately, when you recycle your e-waste, things such as computers, monitors, cables, DVD & CD players, TVs, VCRs, monitors, and cell phones, most of what you take them is NOT truly recycled. They take what is easily removable and profitable for them. These items need to be recycled completely because if they aren’t, items such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, beryllium, and other toxic substances into the ground and eventually into our water supplies.
Instead of letting this happen, many of the “recyclers” just ship the old parts off to third-world countries. This way we don’t see the destruction or the remains. But the people there live with piles of our junk littering their lives. Please follow this link for pictures of the litter we dump in developing nations.
The United States is one of only three countries to sign but not ratify the Basel Convention (the other two are Haiti and Afghanistan). Why don’t we care about the state of these countries? I really don’t know. My only guess is that people look at it like we’re doing a favor to the poor who live there because we’re giving them a living. People there engage in dangerous practices like burning computer wire to expose copper, melting circuit boards in pots to extract lead and other metals, or dousing the boards in powerful acid to remove gold. Does this seem safe or ethical to you?
I still encourage recycling these products because it does take some of the toxic materials out. I also encourage asking your e-waste recycling center what they remove from the products that you give them and what happens to them after they have removed what is valuable to them. If they don’t know or refuse to tell you, I would recommend searching out a new recycling center.
I will inform you of some Southern California recycling centers in another post soon.
Thank you for allowing me to rant.
Happy Computing,
Tim
Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.
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