E-Waste Post (11 AM Mentor Session)

E-Cycling - 11:00 AM Mentor Session

After reading and listening to the podcast talking about the electronic recycling issue we are feeding, I was surprised that something like this could be happening in the world.  It scared me to see that the land and people were changed so much through this industry and our neglect.  It’s sad to think that we believe we are doing the right thing by recycling, but in reality we are not.  There are so many tons of e-waste that increases each and every year.  This includes TV screens, computer motherboards, and other electronic devices including batteries which are incredibly toxic.  Many of the people are sadly using primitive techniques to get the metals separated which is killing the people working on them, and the environments they live in.  I believe that we are just starting to head in the right direction, but we need to be doing more.  When I read that it is possible to have an almost entirely “toxin free” computer by this year “if we tried hard enough” it kind of got my hopes up, but also saddened me.  I think it would be great if we could tackle the problem at the source and get rid of the toxins from the get go, only if we tried hard enough.  But, we need to try harder and get closer to our goals of less toxic waste. The laws need to be enforced more; recycling centers need to become certified and stick to their word; and, people need to be smarter and more proactive about their purchases and how they dispose of them in the end.  It all starts with us and the ways manufacturers deal with their products from start to finish, not throwing our problems on other people or countries.  

When I think about places like Guiyu and Ghana now, I can’t help but think what it used to look like before we came in with our recycling conundrum.  The land has literally been transformed to irreversible lengths in some ways, and it is pretty much all our fault.  We may think we are doing the right thing by recycling our electronics, but we never truly know where it is going to go.  That is what makes me really sad.  As I said before, there needs to be many more regulations because what we are doing right now is not enough.  Once we can solve the issues we are creating and change our ways, we can fully address clean up efforts with our complete attention and long term care for the environment and it’s people.

Questions:

1. Would the situation be different if the recycling was being dumped in our country?  Would there be more immediacy in trying to solve the issue?  It makes me sad that not many people know about places like Ghana or Guiyu and the recycling issues.
2. Would things simply get better by having mandates requiring proper recycling methods?
3. What kind of response might happen if the news of this recycling catastrophe were to spread to larger channels?  Would people just carry on doing what they are now?