E-Warness

 To raise awareness regarding current e-waste collection and disposal effects and create proper protocol.  

[e-warness]

MIT Helps Bug 200 Donated Electronics with GPS

E-Waste has been tracked before many times, but not at this scale through the use of GPS. It’s typically done through paperwork, or as 60 Minutes did, through following a cargo ship container all the way to China.

This time,  Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based e-waste watchdog group, partnered with MIT, and placed 200 GPS trackers inside devices they dropped off at recycling centers across America.

Surprisingly, only about 1/3 of the devices were sent oversees. However, that is still a massive amount considering it is not legal and these facilities are falsifying what they do with the e-waste. 

The watchdog team followed a device to this rural area outside of Hong Kong. The view of the area was blocked with high fences made from old shipping containers. Once their translator told the workers they wanted to buy used electronics to resell in Pakistan, they were let in.

One of the devices they bugged was this TV screen, found in a field filled strewn with LCD monitors, CRT monitors, camcorders and keyboards.Ironically, this particular device they tracked was dropped off at a Dell Reconnect recycling facility. Even a company as large as Dell is participating in this activity. 

It’s been 20 years since e-waste dumping and exporting became a hot button issue, and clearly still has a long ways to go. This watchdog group hopes it doesn’t take another 20 to put a stop to this. 

Read the full findings here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/america-e-waste-gps-tracker-tells-all-earthfix/

[e-warness]

India Rejects Apple from Selling Used iPhones? A Pro or Con?

Although Apple is the world largest corporation driven by profit, this could be considered a blow to e-waste reduction efforts in India. India has the largest population in the world, and a massive amount of cheap electronics they go through each year. Wouldn’t selling used iPhone be better than tossing them away and producing more electronics? 

India claims Apples desire would increase e-waste and violate their hazard waste rules in India. It’s also sort of an embarrassment to India on a political level also. Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally invited Apple's CEO Tim Cook to set up a manufacturing facility in India, which Apple accepted. Now, India is not being so nice to them.

On the other hand, India may actually have a valid argument here. Used electronics, especially the beating phones take, have a shorter lifespan. Therefore people would go through them quicker and increase E-waste. Although at first glance it sounds like reusing old cell phones is a good idea, it’s really not. India has a massive population that would love to get their hands on discount iPhones. Many of these would only last a few months to a year. Perhaps the real solution is just a cheaper iPhone, not a used one. That is exactly why Apple came out with the iPhone SE, a discount model that launched 3 months ago to compete in India.

What’s your thought’s on this rejection? Do you think Apple  refurbishes the used iPhones to a high enough quality to not matter? Or does India have a point?

See how Apple managed to make this iPhone SE so cheap here: http://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-apple-made-the-iphone-se-so-cheap/

India Turns Down Apple’s Request: http://www.zdnet.com/article/india-turns-down-apples-request-to-sell-refurbished-iphones-in-the-country/

[e-warness]

The Who, What, Where, When Why of E-Waste.

The “What?” is clearly electronics. We hear often about how we should make the effort to recycle our old electronics correctly. How we should be using proper authorized centers that are certified to handle E-waste. But how many of us ask why? Who does it impact, and how? How many have seen the deep up close effects electronics have?  

Where?  Most of the issues with old electronics come down to Africa and Asia. Ghana. West Africa and South east China. Specifically Ghana, Africa and Guiyu, China. 

Why? It’s not that developing countries want to use outdated electronics because they’re cheaper than getting the newest version of a device. It’s not that they want to resell them on the secondary market. It’s their parts. To be exact, the small amount of minerals that coat the wires such as gold, copper and silver. The problem is, in order to get that small amount of copper or silver, the entire device has to be stripped down and the wires are burned creating a toxic smoke. The remaining parts are just tossed out into the land and are worthless.

Who? Everyone that lives nearby is effected by the toxic air from the burning, and the poisoned water of the nearby rivers that travel throughout. This includes livestock that feed and drink in the area. When? Destroying old electronics for their copper and gold occurs 24/7. As long as these countries can source them from other countries, people will continue to do so for every penny they can make.

It’s a lot of littering, burning, and waste just to get to something so small within. Millions of these left over worthless parts litter the lands of China and Africa, and leak dangerous chemicals and residues into the mother Earth. The insane effects can be seen vividly in this picture below of Ghana, Africa.

It is remarkable to see how close this is going on to a river and villages in the background. That’s the same river the rely on for water and bathing.

[e-warness]

The Best Day of the Year to Get Rid of an Old Electronic?

Do you know what international event is today? It’s Earth Day! This annual event started in 1970 to demonstrate support for environmental protection, is the perfect opportunity to get rid of an old electronics sitting around your house. Not just as a way to celebrate and contribute, but because of the vast amount of E-waste collections that will be going on throughout the country. Odds are, there is an e-waste drive occurring within a 15 minute drive of you.

An easy way to locate an e-waste drive occurring near you, is to head over to http://news.google.com, and simply type in “e waste” followed by your city and state. For instance, if you live in Aspen, Colorado, type the following: “e waste Aspen, co”. Results for E-waste drives in that area will populate in the news results. You will often find articles from your local county website or newspaper talking about one.

Many small cities are marketing the benefits these donations today will have on the local community. One example is the small town of Bristol, Connecticut that is urging it’s residents to donate an older computer to Planting Pencils, an education charity. "Donating an old computer not only helps countless students who wouldn't have had access to technology otherwise, it also helps the environment by keeping the materials in use longer," explains Ishaan Patel, Founder of Planting Pencils.

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZacRoBECA

References:

Picerno, A. (2016, April 11). Reduce Your E-Waste on Earth Day by Donating Old Computer. Retrieved April 21, 2016, from http://www.courant.com/community/hc-ugc-article-reduce-your-e-waste-on-earth-day-by-donating-2016-04-12-story.html

[e-warness]

Apple Recycling out of Conscious, or Money?

You may have heard in the news recently that Apple has strongly turned up it’s effort to recycle old Apple products. Products which are unwanted and turned in by it’s own customers. Although it has been very successful in taking lots of e-waste off the “streets”, there’s a question as to the true intention of Apple. 

In 2015 Apple processed 90 million pounds of electronics that were turned in by people. It turns out that of that, they were able to extract 2,204 pounds of gold from the old devices, which converts to $40 million worth of gold in today’s prices.

Although it’s mutually beneficial by removing the e-waste, Apple does not put that money back into e-waste recycling efforts. Instead, it puts that cash into its pocket books. Perhaps it’s the lesser of two evils between Apple taking the E-waste and generating millions of dollars, versus being shipped to Africa and causing conflict and environmental destruction. 

Below is a complete breakdown of what Apple retrieved from it’s program last year according to SlashGear.com:

23,101,000 pounds of steel

13,422,360 pounds of plastics

11,945,680 pounds of glass

4,518,200 pounds of aluminum

2,953,360 pounds of copper

189,544 pounds of cobalt

39,672 pounds of nickel

44,080 pounds of lead

130,036 pounds of zinc

4,408 pounds of tin

6,612 pounds of silver

2,204 pounds of gold

[e-warness]

E-Waste Can’t be Slowed, Improper Disposal Can Be

(Monterey Regional Waste Management District, 2014)

There’s one fact of E-Waste no one can change, the growing amount of it. There is no slowing growth of E-waste in sight, at least in the near future. Products become retired very rapidly these days, from phones to just a TV DVR box. The good news though, is that incorrect recycling can be slowed. As an increasing rate of electronics have become recycled properly over the past few years, we get a few steps closer to stopping the damaging effects of rampant electronic waste.

According to the United Nations, roughly 46 million tons of e-waste was generated worldwide in 2014. Only 7.1 tons were recycled or reused. Though much progress is needed, that is actually a huge improvement from past years. These numbers are expected to rise by 4 to 5 percent annually.

So while E-Waste will continue to grow, so will recycling. The question becomes how long it will take until we reach a point where the effects on our species and planet comes to a halt, and if it will be soon enough.

(Electronic Recyclers International, Inc., 2016)

References

Electronic Waste Recycle Center Monterey [Online image]. (2016). Retrieved April 8th, 2016 from http://www.history.net/photo/flu-epidemic-art/collections

Recycling Trends [Online image]. (2014). Retrieved April 8th, 2016 from http://electronicrecyclers.com/assets/img/graph-02.jpg