SCD IST 110H

During the break, I was reading the Reading Eagle, my local newspaper and found an article from the Associated Press. One of the great things about technology is that technology keeps getting better. However, because many technologies become obsolete, many green conscious Americans turn to recycling programs or companies that reuse our electronic waste or e-waste. While there are no precise figures, activists estimate that 50 to 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year ends up overseas. Workers in countries such as China, India and Nigeria then use hammers, gas burners and their bare hands to extract metals, glass and other recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to a cocktail of toxic chemicals. "It is being recycled, but it's being recycled in the most horrific way you can imagine," said Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network, the Seattle-based environmental group that tipped off Hong Kong authorities. "We're preserving our own environment, but contaminating the rest of the world."

So, what can we do? Well, some companies such as Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Sony now take their products back at no charge. Companies like Hewlett-Packard are designing electronics with fewer toxic materials and are making electronics easier to recycle. While e-waste is an emerging problem, it is also a business opportunity of increasing significance for developing countries, given the volume being generated and the content of toxic and valuable materials in it.

E-waste provided me with new perspective about technology. While technology is our future, technology can also destroy our future through creating massive amounts of waste. The solution will not be easy. My advice: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.