tagged w/ ewaste
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Last week, Amazon joined the array of companies that offer an electronic trade-in program. To trade in an electronic device, a customer can click a “trade-in” button on Amazon.com, then print out a pre-paid shipping label in order to ship the device to Amazon for free. After Amazon receives the device, the customer receives credit for future Amazon purchases. Trade-ins are currently offered for 2,550 electronic devices, including cell phones, tablet computers, MP3 players, and cameras.
“Technology is constantly evolving and newer, better versions of consumer electronics are introduced all the time,” said Paul Ryder, vice president of Electronics for Amazon.com. “We want to give customers the opportunity to get great value from their used electronics. Hundreds of thousands of customers have already received millions of dollars in gift cards from the other products in our program. The Electronics category is a natural extension and we are delighted to offer our customers more trade-in options.”
T-mobile also announced a trade-in program last week. T-Mobile’s trade-In program allows its customers to trade in old cell phones for money which they can use to buy new cell phones, including smartphones. The program allows customers to “offset the cost of a new phone purchase by up to $300,” according to a press release. T-mobile will even accept cell phones from other cell phone carriers.
E-waste is a growing problem
Electronic trade-in programs are important because electronic devices contain hazardous chemicals. When electronic waste (e-waste) is dumped into a landfill the hazardous chemicals can leach into the soil, and be released into the air. If e-waste is incinerated heavy metals like lead and mercury are released into the air.
Trade-ins also represent a huge opportunity. It’s a lot easier to mine old cell phones for raw materials than it is to dig for them.
The Electronics Take Back Coalition calls e-waste the “fastest growing waste stream in the U.S.” In 1998 only 2.3 million of the 20 million computers no longer functioning were recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and most computers recycled were from large businesses and institutions. A 2006 report by the International Association of Electronics Recyclers states that there are 400 million units of e-waste a year. Over three billion tons of e-waste was disposed in 2008 in the U.S. and only 430,000 tons or 13.6 percent recycled, according to the Electronics Take Back Coalition.
Post Continues: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/05/amazon-ewaste-trade-in/Last week, Amazon joined the array of companies that offer an electronic trade-in... more
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This recycled art projects website is just great: Creative Waste of California, also known as CWOCA, has been uniting artists with waste in order to create some really neat, upcycled art. Everything you see is made from recycled materials that end up as green art, or recycled art, or recycled trash art as some might call it
CWOCA unites trash into art and the end result is something you might have never imagined! It can be anything from green modern art to vintage looking art to weird art. But that's what art is all about, right? Their recycled cardboard iphone cover is one of my favorites. Another one is the recycled water bottle made from bottles that the artist picked up from the beach and made a tube (I like to think that's more like a mattress that floats) that you can use for wave riding!
Here are the topics they currently cover: architecture, cardboard art, composting, energy, environment, e-waste, health, lighting, metal, paint, paper, photography, plastic, textile, transportation, water and wood art. I even saw a tie made out of tape (that's right, audiotape), I really hope I can review that tie, it was very, very cool.
In their own words:
CWOCA is a collaboration of like-minded people using unwanted materials as the new building blocks for art, products and succesful living.
We are instigators of cycling and self-propelled activities (surf, skate, snow etc…) which produce a healthy mind.
Movement, Fun and Creativity are the magical-three.This recycled art projects website is just great: Creative Waste of California, also... more
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Like gadgets? Ever stand in line for one or over-consume just to slake your obsession? Yeah, us too. Then prepare for a humorous yet brutal look at yourselves, and the impact of your lifestyle, in the newest Futurama episode that aired tonight on Comedy Central television. [I] suggest curling up into a protective fetal position before [watching] the video scraps.Like gadgets? Ever stand in line for one or over-consume just to slake your obsession?... more
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Rapid technology change, low initial cost, and planned obsolescence have resulted in a fast-growing surplus of electronic waste around the globeRapid technology change, low initial cost, and planned obsolescence have resulted in a... more
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In a harsh review of U.S. hazardous waste laws, independent government investigators highlighted the need for improved regulation of electronic waste in a new report.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on Wednesday said a "substantial quantity" of discarded electronics, such as computers, televisions, and cell phones, are sent to the developing world where they are dismantled in conditions unsafe to workers and dangerous to the environment.
"The United States' regulatory coverage of exported, used electronics is among the narrowest in the industrialized world and the little regulation that does exist has been enforced to only a minor degree," the report said.
The international shipping of electronic waste, or "e-waste," is regulated by the 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. The agreement, ratified by 170 countries, requires signatories to notify developing nations of incoming hazardous waste shipments. The United States is the only industrialized country not to ratify the convention.
U.S. residents removed more than 300 million electronic devices from their households in 2006, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). At least 80 percent of the e-waste is sent to domestic landfills. The rest is frequently sold to brokers who ship it to the developing world, mainly Asia and West Africa, where workers dismantle the products and often burn the remains in the open air or dump it into nearby water bodies.
Products with cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), such as televisions and computer monitors, are the only exported e-waste that the EPA regulates. Exporters must obtain EPA consent before exporting the products, which contain harmful levels of copper and lead.
GAO officers who posed as overseas and domestic scrap brokers uncovered 43 businesses that were willing to export the items without obtaining EPA consent during a three-month period. "The export of CRTs from the United States in apparent violation of the CRT rule seems widespread," the report noted.
The report recommends that the EPA take stronger action to enforce its hazardous waste laws. While it is not the role of the GAO to lobby Congressional action, the report also suggests that the EPA foster debate in Congress "to compel ratification of the Basel Convention."
In the EPA's comments on the report, administrators wrote, "EPA is well aware of the numerous challenges in appropriately controlling the management of e-waste, both domestically and internationally. However, we are not convinced that developing a regulatory scheme to address these issues is the most appropriate course of action." The response instead advocates voluntary measures.
The GAO responded that voluntary measures are often ineffective because "the agency has no enforcement recourse against reluctant participants."
The United States is not the only contributor to the world's growing e-waste problem. As more consumers discard their used electronics, 20-50 million metric tons of e-waste is generated worldwide each year, the United Nations Environment Programme estimates.
Some companies are improving the recyclable content of their products to reduce the amount of e-waste generated. According to Greenpeace's "Greener Electronics Guide," cell phone manufacturer Nokia leads the competition.
Ben Block is a staff writer with the Worldwatch Institute.In a harsh review of U.S. hazardous waste laws, independent government investigators... more
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