Ladies and Gentlemen, E-waste has become a problem. A problem that not only requires the attention of people in this country, but of people all over the world. Being a student from a relatively nice neighborhood with a decent amount of money, e-waste had never caught my attention; but after reviewing these articles and looking at the pictures, it is clear that something must be done.
The first steps we can take as consumers, is to watch what we buy, and investigate the manufacturer we buy from. BAN provides a list of companies that recycle their products and I think that when people buy electronics, this list should be known to all. The first Salon article discusses the fact that all the e-waste going to China is primarily coming from the US, Japan and Europe. If you think about it, this is where all or most of all electronic parts are made, aside from China, were hopefully they are using recycled products instead of just adding to their mess.
When I think about my old cell-phones, computers and TV's I can't help but think that I should have recycled it much better. My family has the age old tradition of garage sales. Whenever we are done using something, we put it in the garage until the garage fills up. Thats when we have the sale. Whatever doesn't sell, we usually leave outside our house for a week, and send the rest of it to Goodwill. As for my previous cell-phones: I sent my first one back to the company because we moved, I think I still have 1 somewhere, and I left the other one at the store when I got my current one (oops). I honestly don't know what happens to the televisions. They usually sit outside for a week or two and disappear.
I think people have a hard time addressing this issue because the reality is so horrible, yet we never have to face it. If this was happening in our country, then a lot more people would be up in arms. The people working trying to savage precious metals are putting their selves in terrible danger. The labor laws need to change. People are fighting against child sweat shop workers, but what about the children dipping motherboards into acid? Shouldn't we be fighting for that too? The sad part is that many people do not even e-waste to be a problem. Out with the old-In with the new-type thinking. Global warning, greenhouse gases, rips in the o-zone, e-waste- It's all related and the sooner we start changing our habits, the sooner we will be able to clean up our environment.
