This is a guest post by TampaBayScene’s Breonna Martinez.
If you’re alive and you’re living in the U.S., chances are you’ve gone through your fair share of cell phones, laptops, tablets and various other techno-gizmos.
I’m sure you’ve also noticed that every time you think you’ve emptied your savings and maxed your credit card on the next most awesome thing you just had to have, a newer even better edition comes out in a month. We’re programmed to update, upgrade, trade-in all for the sake of keeping up with the proverbial Jones’. But what our electronic consumerism doesn’t address is what to do with all that now obsolete technology.
I confess to having smashed and run over more gadgets than I’d like to admit, all in the name of revenge. The pieces are strewn in dumpsters and waste away because of slow connections and poor service coverage. Some people donate their gadgets to thrift stores or pawn them off for a small chunk of cash. Some phones get traded in for discounts on newer phones. However, an unfortunate amount find their way into dumpsters or recycling bins. Now, recycling bins may not seem so bad…if they’re being collected by the right people. The problem that has been on the rise since cell phones made it out of their own carrying bags is commonly referred to as the E-Waste Crisis (e-waste being short for “electronic waste”).
Imagine mountains of box TV’s and flip phones leaching their mercury and lead into local water supplies, children climbing around busted monitor screens or refrigerator insulation used as kindling for fires. I’m sure the image I’m painting sounds like some kind of future, dystopian sci-fi hell, but for the people of Accra, Ghana it’s very real.
Via: greencitizen.com
In 2008, 60 minutes produced a documentary called “The Wasteland” that illuminated controversial e-waste recycling practices in parts of China. It displayed angry locals fighting cameras and the kind-hearted white man trying to speak truth. It was complete horse manure on just about every level (including their falsified statistics), but it did serve one good purpose. It brought to the spotlight real issues about what we do with our electronics.
The real question on the table is “How the hell did my cell phone land itself in Ghana?” and the answer is simple: the global trade market. The Basal Action Network (BAN for short) has set policies that prohibit the trade of e-waste from industrialized countries (rich nations) to developing countries (what we think of as “the third world”) if the recycling process produces toxins. Those policies are all well and good, but there just isn’t enough man power to make sure that every device being sold for reuse and repair purposes to poorer countries have been rid of its chemicals. BAN would like to push for complete banishment of e-waste trade at all, which really would only put those piles of e-trash in our backyards instead of in Ghana’s.
So why am I telling you all of this information?
Simply because you and I and every other consumer are part of the problem and therefore should be a part of the solution. I am by no means telling you not to buy the newest cell phone or whatever gizmo gets you going. That would be detrimental to our economy and still not solve the e-waste problem. I’m simply suggesting a bit of education. There are companies out there who are invested in the e-waste problem and are working towards solutions. They just need a little participation on our parts.
Via: fishandbicycles.com
When you are ready to move on to the next best thing, seek out companies with integrity who are not shipping their junk haphazardly to the highest bidder. Look for labels that set them apart as eco-friendly recyclers. The information literally oozes off of a simple Google search. Take the initiative to drop your e-junk off at one of these companies. So go get your tech on, but do it responsibly. Recycle your e-waste and keep it out of Ghana.
Featured photo courtesy of: ACT
