THe-Waste in e-Waste
Not meant to be a pun because based on the prep work assigned by e-Waste educator Spencer, my previous thoughts on recycling e-waste have changed. It is a waste to “recycle” when it’s not actually being recycled!!!
E-waste is basically electronic waste, often times classified as technology that is “obsolete” or old. In the video, it describes e-waste by using the most common example, the cell phone. From the video, I assume people like to get the newest phone, so the old one (if no one uses it) becomes “e-waste”. The article goes into detail of what actually happens when you want to “recycle” your e-waste. Some companies are responsible and actually recycle it. However, not all do. To summarize it, some companies in America export the e-waste to poorer countries where it isn’t properly recycled or is left to negatively impact the environment. This makes me angry because companies say that they are going to recycle the electronics, but instead, they just dump it somewhere else and make it someone else’s problem that can have the potential to grow into an even bigger problem. It’s not responsible, and it’s harmful to the planet.
From the video and article, I would guess that:
- Around 5 million tons of e-waste is produced each year
- I produced around 1 ton of e-waste last year (could be off, but I don’t throw away my electronics and wait around 5–8 years before getting a new phone)
- Again, I don’t throw any of my electronics away, so I don’t have a way in which I dispose electronics. Though before knowing about e-waste companies and if I did want to dispose of e-waste, I would have gone to the recycling centers and believe that they actually did recycle them.
