E-Waste

I guess the hot topic is e-waste.  Is it me or have we become so greedy as a society that we don't stop to think about the consequences of our actions.  I am as much to blame as anyone.  I too like Maha felt awful and guilty for being so frivolous with my acquisitions of technology.  What part got me, was how surprised I was when I realized how technology devices were being disposed.  I asked myself, "what did I think happened when I recycled my old cell phones or computers?"  The answer is that I didn't think.  I never once stopped to think about what happened after I dropped off my technology.  Like Maha, I was ashamed with myself on my ignorance.  But I can't beat myself up forever and if I want to make up for being uninformed, I realize I can do it by educating others.

I did show video that was suggested in twitter by Rennie to my students and the first thing they were looking for was the places where they could dispose of technology properly.  They went home and had discussions with their families around the topic.  Just today our school has collected over 26,000 plastic bags in a month so they don't end up in landfills or our ditches.  One student said that if we can have Wasteless Wednesday lunches, and collect 26, 000 bags, then we can also find a proper way of disposing our technology.  She further added that maybe we don't have to get rid of things as quickly as we do if they are still good.  From the mouth of babes.  We could stand to listen to some of these enthusiastic young minds. 

Thanks Kristin for the great leads on where we might be able to dispose our technology properly.  maybe as a class or school, we can investigate this further. 

On a final note, I believe that the governments need to become a part of the solution and demand  safety measures be in place when dealing with e-waste.