Please don't refer to electronics going to a landfill just to make a point about disposable technology.
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@rattlesnakestu good point. And a very good aspiration.
I'm afraid the truth of the matter though is still ~78% of ewaste ends up in a landfill.
I live in Oak Park Illinois, one of the most green granola spots in the US and they tell you to jump through hoops to dispose of electronics properly. We have village compost bins and recycling. But ewaste seems not to be visible.
They tell you to call a number or visit a website and consult a list and schedule a pick up. Most people will not.
I understand it's still common. I've been working in electronics recycling & ITAD for over 8 years, working my way up from the production floor (sorting belt) to management. I'm familiar with the industry and how businesses and consumers dispose of their technology.
The more people treat "landfill" as normal for electronics disposal, the more it will continue. That's why I want people to stop saying it when they know better, because saying it to someone who doesn't know better perpetuates the problem.
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Please don't refer to electronics going to a landfill just to make a point about disposable technology.
This phrase normalizes the idea of landfilling obsolete/unwanted electronics. That is NOT the correct disposal method, anywhere, for electronics or electrical gear.
Even if you already know this, using "landfill" in place of "e-waste bin" paints a very different picture in the mind of your reader/audience, and you can't know what they do or don't know.
Normalize correct disposal of obsolete (or unwanted) technology. Please.
@rattlesnakestu Alas, electronics going into landfills is itself still the normal outcome here (and presumably also elsewhere), to a large extent. Yes, there are people who do scavenge through garbage for anything they can extract and sell to recyclers or elsewhere, but they can't keep up with the volume of e-waste. And "official" e-waste disposal organisations seem clueless and overwhelmed to the extent that I strongly suspect they just dump the stuff they get anyway. (At least, that's the impression I formed several years ago when I tried to dispose of a bunch of old electronics.)
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@rattlesnakestu Alas, electronics going into landfills is itself still the normal outcome here (and presumably also elsewhere), to a large extent. Yes, there are people who do scavenge through garbage for anything they can extract and sell to recyclers or elsewhere, but they can't keep up with the volume of e-waste. And "official" e-waste disposal organisations seem clueless and overwhelmed to the extent that I strongly suspect they just dump the stuff they get anyway. (At least, that's the impression I formed several years ago when I tried to dispose of a bunch of old electronics.)
I suppose it depends a lot on where you are and what organizations are available.
As someone who has worked in electronics recycling and ITAD for over 8 years, I can promise that none of the companies I've worked for ever intentionally dumped electronics in an inappropriate way. Instead, we are extremely careful to avoid even accidentally letting electronics get mixed in with the landfill-bound solid waste (plastic packaging, etc.).
Regardless, my point is strictly about how e-waste disposal is discussed by people who know it should not go to a landfill. I fully realize that much of it does - but this problem is not helped by people treating that like it's normal when they know it's wrong.
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I suppose it depends a lot on where you are and what organizations are available.
As someone who has worked in electronics recycling and ITAD for over 8 years, I can promise that none of the companies I've worked for ever intentionally dumped electronics in an inappropriate way. Instead, we are extremely careful to avoid even accidentally letting electronics get mixed in with the landfill-bound solid waste (plastic packaging, etc.).
Regardless, my point is strictly about how e-waste disposal is discussed by people who know it should not go to a landfill. I fully realize that much of it does - but this problem is not helped by people treating that like it's normal when they know it's wrong.
@rattlesnakestu Fair enough, I wasn't disagreeing with your point so much as expressing my level of despair at the situation here (in India). Maybe it's getting better here too, I don't know.
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I understand it's still common. I've been working in electronics recycling & ITAD for over 8 years, working my way up from the production floor (sorting belt) to management. I'm familiar with the industry and how businesses and consumers dispose of their technology.
The more people treat "landfill" as normal for electronics disposal, the more it will continue. That's why I want people to stop saying it when they know better, because saying it to someone who doesn't know better perpetuates the problem.
@poleguy @rattlesnakestu it'll never be normalized until it's free and as available as a trash bin. Even as someone who desperately wanted to properly ewaste things I've had to give up in most places I've lived.
That being said I don't think this is a phrasing thing that normalizes it I think it's an availability and cost thing. If I'm poor or even just not well to do I'm not spending $30-60 to dispose of a screen as a consumer.
Basically the most effective systems for recovery have economic incentives at the moment. If you look at things like bottle return in Europe we need to apply this to electronics so doing the right thing is a positive instead of a negative cost. The same way it's often better to destroy equipment to count it a different way for tax purposes for companies
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@poleguy @rattlesnakestu it'll never be normalized until it's free and as available as a trash bin. Even as someone who desperately wanted to properly ewaste things I've had to give up in most places I've lived.
That being said I don't think this is a phrasing thing that normalizes it I think it's an availability and cost thing. If I'm poor or even just not well to do I'm not spending $30-60 to dispose of a screen as a consumer.
Basically the most effective systems for recovery have economic incentives at the moment. If you look at things like bottle return in Europe we need to apply this to electronics so doing the right thing is a positive instead of a negative cost. The same way it's often better to destroy equipment to count it a different way for tax purposes for companies
@poleguy @rattlesnakestu to be clear I think a lot of places I see it already do cover "dispose of" instead of "landfill" but also if saying you took it to the skip is accurate than that's what you're going to say
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@poleguy @rattlesnakestu it'll never be normalized until it's free and as available as a trash bin. Even as someone who desperately wanted to properly ewaste things I've had to give up in most places I've lived.
That being said I don't think this is a phrasing thing that normalizes it I think it's an availability and cost thing. If I'm poor or even just not well to do I'm not spending $30-60 to dispose of a screen as a consumer.
Basically the most effective systems for recovery have economic incentives at the moment. If you look at things like bottle return in Europe we need to apply this to electronics so doing the right thing is a positive instead of a negative cost. The same way it's often better to destroy equipment to count it a different way for tax purposes for companies
Nothing of value (including waste disposal) is truly free. People pay to dispose of their trash, maybe not when they're walking down the street but certainly at home, although the cost may not be paid directly.
If by "free" you mean taxpayer-funded, I have seen some of that when I worked at a company that accepted consumer electronics, but it was *very* limited in scope (basically, residents of one county could drop off their electronics for free, anyone else would pay by the pound - yet still typically at a loss or break-even for the company).
The cost could be made invisible to the consumer like for bottle returns - the cost is built into the product purchase price. Not free but feels like it. Recycling electronics is generally not a profitable venture, so it must be financially supported by others (e.g., governments (taxpayers) & electronics manufacturers subsidize a lot of it).
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Please don't refer to electronics going to a landfill just to make a point about disposable technology.
This phrase normalizes the idea of landfilling obsolete/unwanted electronics. That is NOT the correct disposal method, anywhere, for electronics or electrical gear.
Even if you already know this, using "landfill" in place of "e-waste bin" paints a very different picture in the mind of your reader/audience, and you can't know what they do or don't know.
Normalize correct disposal of obsolete (or unwanted) technology. Please.
@rattlesnakestu
These endpoint facilities to your ewaste disposal facility will make sure that reusable components of your electronics go back to market where they need to be. (---express)
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@rattlesnakestu
These endpoint facilities to your ewaste disposal facility will make sure that reusable components of your electronics go back to market where they need to be. (---express)That's not how responsible, certified, and audited processors manage their downstreams - speaking from first-hand experience.
My point is that people should dispose of electronics responsibly and not implicitly normalize illegal dumping. The fact that not all disposal is handled responsibly doesn't contradict my point, it underscores it.
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That's not how responsible, certified, and audited processors manage their downstreams - speaking from first-hand experience.
My point is that people should dispose of electronics responsibly and not implicitly normalize illegal dumping. The fact that not all disposal is handled responsibly doesn't contradict my point, it underscores it.
@rattlesnakestu I would REALLY like to see tracking data from a random assortment of collection facilities to see where stuff actually goes. I'm pretty sure the stuff collected here in canada gets incinerated out in ontario. but more likely shipped overseas.
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