The editor's new cellphone is not only slick and very orange - it's also full of lead and mercury. Will recycling it at the end of its useful life ensure that such toxins won't leach into the environment?
The consequences aren't pretty. So-called electronic waste or e-waste - which features copious amounts of notorious contaminants such as lead, mercury, and beryllium - is the scourge of the Information Age. Dumped e-waste becomes nothing less than a slow-release conglomeration of toxins and carcinogens, affecting both human and environmental health.
In response, many Western jurisdictions have stepped up efforts to encourage the recycling of e-waste. Although this seems to be a positive development, there is a dark side, too.
Click here, for the full story at ethicaltraveler.org.
***
Felix, when not dating married women or gambling at the dogtrack, writes for the Ethical Traveler news team. Ethical Traveler is a project of the California-based Earth Island Institute.
The Province of Alberta, as one example, now has an environmental levy on any new T.V. / Computer / electronic equipment purchased.
ReplyDeleteThis fee is fed back into a government initiated electronic recycling program to clean up these waste products.
The PROBLEM? The fund sits at a surplus right now because few people are (a) aware of the recycling program and (b) taking advantage of it.
The Editor is looking sharp. Thanks for the recycling info. They always talk about recycling these things but never tell you where you can do it! They need to get the word out!
ReplyDeleteTSM and M ... yep, I think there's an information gap here somewhere. People simply aren't aware, and that's a shame.
ReplyDeleteMin Min says "Oh, Bear!" ....
ReplyDeleteSaskatchewan has recently jumped into the wagon of recycling levy. What I want to know is where is the levy collected gone? Hope the same electronic junks didn't end up in the landfill not too far away from our backyard and the levy be stashed under surplus in the government finance department. That would be a pity!
ReplyDeleteThe Hunted ... the editor says, "huh?"
ReplyDeleteZhu Ruiyin ... I'm willing to bet that the tax levy goes right into the Government's general revenues.