Collecting E-Waste: Awesome... or is it?

I came across this article...  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/opinion/sunday/where-do-old-cellphones-go-to-die.html?_r=0 and basically read it only because, unfortunately, I already knew this. I know where old cellphones go to die. I know where most e-waste goes to die. But after seeing an e-waste collection at the last Earth Day in a nearby small town, I had to wonder how many people bother to think about it.

Yay! Someone's taking my junk!

Everyone rejoices when they hear about an e-waste "recycle" day. See, because here in PA, they earlier this year passed a law saying you could no longer throw TVs etc. into the trash. From all I see and hear, this is just one big inconvenience to most. Because we don't stop to think about what happens to things we throw away. We just throw them away and stop thinking about the immediately. Oh, it's all well and good when we buy things and they are new and wonderful, but when their usefulness has come to an end, these wonderful things are now just a nuisance. I call it the Christmas Tree Syndrome. As the holidays approach, we go out to a live tree lot with great joy and enthusiasm to pick out that perfect spruce. Everyone's happy. The kids are happy. We happily and lovingly tie them to the roofs of our cars and happily take them home, where we happily take them inside and happily decorate them. Mirth all around. Oh, how we love them so. Then, shortly after the holiday, what do we see? Sad, dried-out, dejected, discarded trees at the curb. Bits of sad tinsel still clinging to some limbs. Needles continuing to fall out all around. Because, the usefulness is over. We don't care anymore. Something that brought us joy no longer has a purpose. Now, it's someone else's problem. And, oh, man, they had BETTER come and get that tree. It's my right as an Uh-meer-i-cuhn to get that tree picked up darn-tootin' I pay my taxes.

And now... damn it's just so damned inconvenient to have to actually THINK about where that discarded no-longer-amusing just-too-big TV has to go. We were happy enough when we bought it, but now it's just a damn nuisance. Phones? Who cares. I want a new one. I lost it, I broke it, I dropped it in the toilet. All which just really means it's still trashing the planet somewhere out there. I don't care. I don't see it anymore.

So, yeah, when we went to the "free e-waste recycling" at a local Earth Day event, I was pretty horrified at the amount of SHIT people were unloading. With no more thought than, "Damn, stupid I had to drive this all the way down here, WTH." Do we care where it's going? Do we know? Do we give it a second thought? How about a first thought? Do we think about WHY these things shouldn't be in a landfill? Most of us don't actually live near landfills, so we don't think about those either. I've become friends with the local municipal waste expert. He's a really cool guy. Oh, the questions I hear him get. And, bless his heart, he answers so patiently. I stand in awe.

By and large, unfortunately, I see time and again that people don't really care WHERE it goes, so long as it goes somewhere. Makes me think of the Motley Crue song, "Hey, don't go away mad, just go away." So these collection days become more a scene in people being inconvenienced, rather than people doing the right thing. Would it matter if they SAW where these things go, and the horrible conditions surrounding what happens to these things? If they could smell the toxic soup that other humans breathe after we throw things out? If they realized what would be leaching into the Earth if we just continued to pile them into landfills?

Well, you already know my answer.

I got nuthin'. This is just a rant. I know what the solution is: stop buying so much. But that won't happen. Yeah, I must know where my phone is at all times, but I stick with a cell phone and replace it only while kicking and screaming that I don't want a new one! Ugh, I have to learn a whole new gadget. Hell, yeah, it's awesome, but seriously, I will keep a phone as many years as I can. Same with computers. TV? Ours is big and heavy but it still works and it throws off some heat and OH those new thin ones sure are sharp... but no. Ours still works. iPads? iPhones?? Replacing them every time a new one comes out, just cuz it has to be the newest, not because the *old* one broke? THAT'S some serious denial about what's happening out there in, oh, you know, REALITY.

But, geez o' man, those e-waste collections are SO inconvenient. Can't I just throw it away? And who cares?

For your perusing pleasure...

Electronics Dump

Most Americans throw away rather than recycle outdated devices. Below, the percentage of electronics, by weight, that wound up in landfills or incinerators in 2006-10.

 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/05/05/sunday-review/0505-garbage.html?ref=sunday

Blame TV

Which came first: the problem or the commercial?

I watch a fair amount of TV. Always have. I love TV. I credit Hodge Podge Lodge with giving me my first awareness of Mother Nature. I watch it very closely. And it makes me wonder... is it influencing our decisions or mirroring our habits? I'm guessing a good part of both.

Take commercials... toothpaste ads glob on the stuff... no one needs that much toothpaste on the brush. We all know that. Or, um, do we? How ARE we supposed to know that, if every time we see a commercial or ad, they have that much stuff on it? Oh sure, it SAYS on the package to only use a pea-sized amount. But I know their game. They are counting on people not being a voracious label-reader like me. So what does the average consumer do? Why, they do what they see, of course. What they see over and over and over again. It's drummed into their heads, not even remotely subconsciously. Blatantly. So this is on purpose, for sure. You'll use more than you need and have to buy more product than if you used it the way it is supposed to be used. You know, according to the tiny print on the package no one reads. They ain't dumb. They're out for a buck. Your buck.

On commercials and TV show, they run the water while brushing teeth. Always. Why? I was watching a sitcom where, not only did they have one scene where the couple very obviously ran the water the whole time they conversed over their tooth-brushing, but in another scene, the same woman used a tissue to wipe a little makeup off her face and then flushed the tissue instead of throwing it away. It was made obvious because it was part of a joke set-up: the toilet clogged. I'm wondering what the writers of this show have against water. I'm not sure why they feel the need to run water like that. Is it because we do it, or do we do it because we keep seeing THAT? Why can't the writers be a tiny bit more aware and responsible? And does it affect the toothpaste commercial if they DON'T run the water the whole damn time? And might we subconsciously pick up the message to turn off our water?

I know. Here I go again with the little things. "Oh, GG. You're so... picky." Yeah. I am.

Then, there's that Glad Trash Bag commercial that just sets me off every farkin' time. Those two boys on their oh-ha-ha-cute-funny pretend news show where they talk about Mom and the slipping garbage bag as she throws away the meatloaf-oh-yuck that no one ate. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? WHY is it OK to talk about/validate SO much waste of food??? In what world?? And it's supposed to be CUTE and funny?? Can we stop already?

So I ask... do they have commercials like that because they think they have us pegged and are reflecting OUR waste and stupidity, or do we think it is OK to waste and be stupid because of THEM? Hmmmm....

Yup. Just another thing that makes me crazy. Heck, I'll never run out of material. No worries there.