If you’ve ever watched a recycling truck weaving through city streets, you’ve seen the problem firsthand. Most of what we call “recycling” still depends on long-distance transportation and centralized sorting facilities. Those systems are energy-intensive and prone to contamination — the dreaded mix of wet food, plastic wrap, and paper that renders recyclables useless.
Last year’s e-waste weighed substantially more than all the adults in Europe, or as much as 350 cruise ships the size of the Queen Mary 2. Another metric: 15 pounds for ever person on earth, every year.
More than one hundred organisations from over forty countries worldwide will organise activities as part of the second International E-Waste Day taking place on 14th October.
Apple product releases are delayed in the Mideast shortening the supported product life in this part of the world. Apple also practices planned obsolescence. In an open letter to customers, Apple’s senior VP of hardware engineering admitted that it was a mistake to remove Apple products from the EPEAT environmental rating system. He writes:”We’ve recently heard […]
The Israeli government continues to process a bill that will regulate, for the first time, management of the country’s electronic waste. If it gets approved by the Knesset, the bill would require manufacturers to finance the proper recycling of their materials. The bill would also stipulate that by 2020 it would be illegal to send […]
Spectrums: CFL (top) has mercury’s characteristic violet and green. Incandescent (middle) spectrum is smooth with strong reds (warm). LED (bottom) has a bright peak in blue. If only there were a light bulb as efficient as a compact fluorescent light (CFL), but without the ghastly green light and brain-eating toxic mercury. Am I asking too […]
Superior repair skills in developing nations mean that broken electronics can be mended and reused – a much greener alternative to recycling A couple of months ago, I wrote about the death of my laptop and my predicament over what to do with it. I had become wary of sending broken electronics to developing countries […]
Thousands of tons of electronic waste are dumped in Pakistan each year, creating a hazard, and a mountain of opportunities for recyclers. Nobody knows for sure how much electronic waste is dumped in Pakistan, but it’s easily in the thousands of tons every year. Some of it is generated internally but most is imported from […]
It was like a scene from those rubbish action/comedy films when someone drops a precious vase. You know – everything moves in slow motion and the actor reaches out, eyes wide to catch the vase and at the very last moment it lands in his/her arms after which they let out a sigh of relief. […]