A new study [Warning: PDF] from the United Nations University says that 44.7 million metric tons (49.3 million tons) of TV sets, refrigerators, cellphones and other electrical good were discarded last year, with only a fifth recycled to recover the valuable raw materials inside. That isn’t good for the environment of course.
My take on this goes something like this. Without better disposal/recycling options, it’s going to continue to be like this. People aren’t going to put in the effort to search out methods of recycling electronics, hazardous waste like propane tanks, etc. People don’t have space to store that waste to wait for an opportunity to properly dispose of it. The fact that the trash and recycling service that everyone pays for doesn’t help with this problem. Thus we really need a rethink of how we keep eWaste out of landfills and the like.
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This entry was posted on December 13, 2017 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags UNN. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Almost 45 Million Tons Of eWaste Discarded Last Year – UNN
A new study [Warning: PDF] from the United Nations University says that 44.7 million metric tons (49.3 million tons) of TV sets, refrigerators, cellphones and other electrical good were discarded last year, with only a fifth recycled to recover the valuable raw materials inside. That isn’t good for the environment of course.
My take on this goes something like this. Without better disposal/recycling options, it’s going to continue to be like this. People aren’t going to put in the effort to search out methods of recycling electronics, hazardous waste like propane tanks, etc. People don’t have space to store that waste to wait for an opportunity to properly dispose of it. The fact that the trash and recycling service that everyone pays for doesn’t help with this problem. Thus we really need a rethink of how we keep eWaste out of landfills and the like.
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This entry was posted on December 13, 2017 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags UNN. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.