Almost 45 Million Tons of E-waste Discarded Last Year (apnews.com) 177
A new study claims 44.7 million metric tons (49.3 million tons) of TV sets, refrigerators, cellphones and other electrical good were discarded last year, with only a fifth recycled to recover the valuable raw materials inside. From a report: The U.N.-backed study published Wednesday calculates that the amount of e-waste thrown away in 2016 included a million tons of chargers alone. The U.S. accounted for 6.3 million metric tons, partly due to the fact that the American market for heavy goods is saturated. The original study can be found here (PDF; Google Drive link).
Fridges as e-waste? (Score:4)
Really? Come on...
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Really? Come on...
I'm absolutely shocked that folks are throwing away refrigerators!
They must be Global Warming Deniers.
We will soon need all the refrigerators that we can get to fight the Global Warming!
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The last time I had to get rid of a fridge, it was a nightmare. It may depend on where you live, but recycling centers won't take them, many the appliance stores won't remove the old one when you buy a new one, and you can't take it to the dump. When we shopped for a new fridge, our show-stopping criteria is whether they'd take away the old one. Which reduced one's choices considerably.
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Next time try Craigslist. Put it in the "free stuff" category. Someone will come and get it within an hour, even if it doesn't work. There are people that make a living picking up broken appliances, repairing them, and then reselling.
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I did not know this. Thanks to both ShanghaiBill and Gilgaron.
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They may not want it for their family, but stitch up and fix the torn side, through over a blanket, and it's good enough for dogs.
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Or...(depending on where you live)
Put it on the side of the road with a $10 "For Sale" sign on it. Someone will steal it before morning.
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I think "magic scrap fairy" is my new favorite term.
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Computers you can recycle for free. Air conditioners, refrigerators, TVs and old CRT computer monitors you have to pay to get rid of. Which explains why they suddely appear in the middle of the woods, unused creeks, Salvation Army dumpsters and whatever that unknown area is called behind Walmart.
Not all of us are lucky to afford (Score:2)
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Buy the simplest 'fridge possible. e.g.
https://www.amazon.com/Danby-D... [amazon.com]
They're meant for landlords with apartments putting a fridge in for a tenant. Mechanical thermostat, no fancy gizmos, easy to fix if broken. Unless you NEED two icemakers, a water dispenser, a camera, and an LCD on the front with WiFi.
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That's because landlords don't pay the electric bill.
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Regardless, my purchase decision wasn't based on aesthetics or electronics. Just the practical usable storage by having a bottom-drawer freezer and enough cubic footage. Top door freezers are impossible to organize when more than half full.
However, a numerical digital thermostat is a lot more than a "gadget." It's a reliable indicator of the expected temperature - but I do keep a coil thermometer in the back of the fridge.
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Cost savings. I buy fresh produce on about a twice-weekly basis, but everything else I will buy in larger bulk on sale. Raw meat gets portioned and frozen if it won't be used in the next day or two. Cooked meals get made in larger batches and leftovers often frozen in single-serving portions. The quality of frozen meat holds a lot longer than you would expect. But even cutting chicken breast off the bone and freezing it myself tastes better than IQF Chicken Breasts from the freezer aisle - I'm not sure
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As cold as possible without creating ice crystals in the milk is the best temperature for keeping food fresh for longer.
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You can get cheap fridges with electromechanical controls. Generally meant for rental properties where the landlord wants the cheapest, most reliable solution, but they'll work in a home as well...
https://www.amazon.com/Danby-D... [amazon.com]
How to buy "green"... (Score:5, Informative)
Exactly: ...
(1) Buy a used car -- the best car, environmentally -- is one where the energy/materials used in manufacturing have already been spent.
(2) Keep your appliances 10-20 years, even if less efficient. Buy simple appliances (dishwashers/washers/fridges with dial electromechanical controls that can be easily fixed) so they last you a decade or two.
(3) Buy an upgradeable computer or laptop -- Lenovo and some Dells are great in this respect. Not stuff like Smurface or iPad that are sealed with glue and where it's barely worth replacing a battery.
(4) Buy a phone with removable battery and SD-expandable storage. Moto G4 Play and G5 are great. Or just carry a flip phone which will last you 10 years
(5) Buy hardware that doesn't require a cloud service to work correctly. With cloud-mandatory hardware, the manufacturer can pull the rug out after a year or two and you'll have little recourse.
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In general keep your stuff as longs as possible...
1. If you were to buy a new car, keep it until you drive it to the ground. Getting a used car is just offsetting someone else who is not fully utilizing their new car.
2. There isn't point in getting greener appliances every year, but when it is time, get the best one in terms of energy efficiency and good reliability.
3. Depending on how you use your laptop. The replaceable batteries are often not as efficient as the glued in ones. So you may be tossing ou
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3. I've used phones and laptops with both kinds of batteries. There's no major difference in durability. ... "sorry, G-suite no longer supports Chromebooks older than 2013..." while my laptop with native software keeps on ticking away.
5. Except that cloud services don't really work that way. The terminals are more cheaply made and MORE disposable than (say), my Thinkpad X220. And service providers can tell you
Wrong on upgrade (Score:2)
If you buy a computer you can upgrade, then you will... throwing out old electronics, so you lost all of the benefit.
Meanwhile the iPad 2 I bought for my wife at launch in 2011 (!) is still used daily and works fine. Some day I may replace it, but then it can become a digital picture frame.
She also uses daily my "non upgradable" MacBook Pro 17" from 2010 while many other windows laptops of that vintage are in a scrap heap so how has it hurt to buy a laptop of higher quality that can last a decade or more?
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A 2011 iPad no longer gets OS updates (AFAIK), and Apple won't give you old versions of previously-installed apps through App Store. You need to jump through silly hoops like downloading the app in iTunes first, which flags it as downloaded, whereupon Apple will push an old version to the iPad to "reinstall."
2010 MacBook Pros are highly upgradeable and repairable and use standard parts compared to the post-2013 junk that Apple foisted on the public. Many fanbois don't know how bad recent Apple hardware ha
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A 2011 iPad no longer gets OS updates (AFAIK), and Apple won't give you old versions of previously-installed apps through App Store. You need to jump through silly hoops like downloading the app in iTunes first, which flags it as downloaded, whereupon Apple will push an old version to the iPad to "reinstall."
It doesn't get OS updates at this point (did for years) but who cares? It still browses. It still runs Netflix. It still runs the apps that it has just fine. It will BTW show you the last version of
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Maybe something changed about the App Store recently -- Apple used to be really difficult about installing the last-compatible app version.
You were lucky with your MacBooks, that you bought exactly the spec that you need and nothing failed. I'd rather have a reliable device that's also repairable.
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I was lucky to buy an LCD monitor with two VGA inputs and one DVI input back in the day.
No DVI output? HMDI-to-DVI. Done.
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There are still monitors with VGA ports out there, and I think most TVs still have them. My current monitor is a Dell 27" U2713HM, which has Displayport, HDMI, DVI and VGA, and it's not that old. Similarly my Thinkpad T440 has a VGA port on it, that I never use.
I know the later Thinkpads got rid of the VGA port, the T470 certainly doesn't have it. But it does have Displayport, which can do VGA with an adapter.
So it is very much still supported on a lot of hardware. There are a lot of meeting rooms out there
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My favorite saying that makes the Greenies mad is when I tell them that my used Ford F-150 is more environmentally friendly than that Tesla... Not because it doesn't pollute, but because at this point, we don't have to build a new car, just run the old one...
Except only about a third or less of the lifetime energy consumption of a vehicle is in its production. If the Tesla is twice as efficient as your F-150 (and it is, and then some) then it's still a big win, environmentally.
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EV's belch out so much smug that I can't believe they're any good for the environment.
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That doesn't count the battery FYI. [theguardian.com] Tesla's are far worse on the environment then his old F-150.
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My favorite saying that makes the Greenies mad is when I tell them that my used Ford F-150 is more environmentally friendly than that Tesla... Not because it doesn't pollute, but because at this point, we don't have to build a new car, just run the old one...
Except only about a third or less of the lifetime energy consumption of a vehicle is in its production. If the Tesla is twice as efficient as your F-150 (and it is, and then some) then it's still a big win, environmentally.
Depends how far you drive in it.
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Depends how far you drive in it.
That's true; the more you drive it, obviously, the greater the savings. I drive a gas-guzzling V8 luxo-barge now, but I scarcely drive. Hopefully I can maintain that going forward, because otherwise the fuel costs will eat me alive.
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Actually, a dishwasher wastes less water than hand-washing. I doubt a thin plastic shroud around a removable phone battery makes more e-waste than tossing the whole phone.
I have a library card with access to two of the better library systems in the world :)
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Actually, a dishwasher wastes less water than hand-washing.
But uses as much if not more detergent, creates pollution and waste during its manufacture and uses a shitload of electricity.
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I've yet to have a dishwasher last more than half that. And I've had dishwashers since the 70s.
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And if you're serious about the "green" part of things instead of just reducing e-waste then you'll also stop eating meat, having kids ...t
Eating meat is a part of a sustainable natural cycle. The only reason not to eat meat is to squeeze more humans onto the planet, as plant food is more efficient for the area used. But I think there are enough humans already, as in your second point.
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Lead free solder and shitty caps (Score:2, Interesting)
They're probably responsible for half of this e-waste.
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Nowadays Philips TV are rebranded aplliances made by obscure chinese firms that make
It will keep happening, too (Score:5, Insightful)
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My county landfill has an electronic waste recycling area. But they won't let anyone take anything away. I'll see tons of computers that are better than anything I have and probably only there because they're too loaded up with malware. This stuff could be fixed and sold, donated, whatever. At the same time, of course, their raising my property taxes to pay for new computers in the schools.
I blame Microsoft for this. (Score:2)
This is what happens when Microsoft and big government collude [forbes.com] to put recycling company CEO's in jail.
Big industry LOVES selling new stuff, they HATE when people re-use old stuff. Can't make quarterly sales goals if everybody is re-using old stuff and not buying new.
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So, in addition to X-box and Surface, you need to consider anything that's being thrown away because MS no longer supports an OS on it...even though MS didn't manufacture the hardware, they're somewhat responsible for it being tossed.
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I can't help but think it's corrupted our economy somehow. Like corporations have gotten society on this planned obsolescence treadmill and deliberate expiration and dropped support are just gimmicks to keep selling us the same shit over and over again.
I also worry that it's a sign that we've kind of run out of ideas, nothing new is really coming, just some rehash of what's already been done.
Old chargers sucked (power) (Score:2, Informative)
That's not necessarily all bad. Those older chargers (big wall warts that get warm when charging) wasted a lot of energy. The new small ones are much more efficient.
the stuff needs to last longer (Score:4, Insightful)
OK, this is stating the obvious, but there might be less e-waste if (a) the stuff was more durable, and (b) fewer companies ran on a forced obsolescence business plan. Just sayin'.
We are past the days where every device had a different, proprietary charger. A few well-made charging solutions save money in the long run over a big box of junk.
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the west needs to change policies (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, we have robotics that can dissemble many of the electronics. Some of it, i.e. the plastics, can, and should, be used for a thermal electricity. At the same time,the rest should be melted down and separated into various elements and then used right away, or stored. FOr example, the mercury and lead can be stored in old mines, until a new use is found for them (and we will).
The electricity generation and selling of some of the elements (gold, silver, etc) will likely pay for the rest.
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It is amazing. [phys.org]
What is happening around the world with this. [treehugger.com]
In fact, it is happening in America,but slowly. [plasticsnews.com]
Oh no, big scary number!!! (Score:2)
The Earth weighs 5,972,000,000,000,000 million tons
Of course waste is bad. But big numbers are meaningless unless some sort of frame is defined.
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The Earth weighs 5,972,000,000,000,000 million tons
But most of its materials are in the wrong place for us. We are running out of copper; there are billions of tons of it in there but it is so hard to collect it together to make cables and pipes. So it's a shame to toss back the copper we have already made the effort to collect.
Not great but not terrible. (Score:2)
While discarding electronics into dumps isn't great, it's not entirely terrible because it can still be recycled and it's not actively harming the environment sitting in a dump. What is terrible is all the CO2 being released into the air because while it can be recycled it is actively harming the environment. We will eventually move to 100% recycling but we will also have to remove the CO2 from the atmosphere which is going to require a LOT of energy.
Waste in the US (Score:2)
So, the weight of the waste doesn't matter nearly as much as the volume and obviously any related hazardous materials. With the US producing more waste than any other nation, I thought this perspective was useful...
From howstuffworks:
The Great Pyramid in Egypt is 756 feet by 756 feet at the base and is 481 feet tall, and anyone who has seen it in real life knows that it's a huge thing -- one of the biggest things ever built by man. If you took all the trash that the United States would generate in 100 year
So separate them at the landfill? (Score:2)
Landfills (Score:2)
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valuable mineral deposits of the future.
I've always seen this happening, old electronics used Gold and Silver for one.
Peoples of India mine landfills as a source of income, and population control...
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Links (Score:3)
Link to a page with the report. [itu.int] Direct link to the PDF. [itu.int]
A couple of tidbits that I, personally, found interesting:
- The definition of E-waste: "all items of electrical and electronic equipment and its parts that have been discarded by its owner as waste without the intent of re-use". This includes everything from appliances to solar cells to smartphones.
- On a per-person basis, E-waste is highest in Europe, the Americas and Oceania. However, Europe had the highest recycling rate (35%).
- Unstated, but North America is likely the biggest generator, because the figures given are for "the Americas", which includes North, Central and South in one big lump. That's a really odd decision, for a way to group countries.
- The report claims that only 20% of E-waste is recycled through "appropriate" channels, but they do not define what an "appropriate channel" is.
Living in Europe, I do not believe the recycling figures. In many European countries - and certainly where I live - it would be very difficult *not* to recycle an appliance. Sure, a small charger may land in a wastebasket, but a washing machine? A refrigerator? We don't have public dumps, and these don't fit in a municipal garbage bag. - the recycling center is the only possible place to dispose of these. More: recycling is free (actually: pre-paid with the original purchase price). The last figures I saw nationally were well over 70%, and I suspect the rates are a lot higher by now.
Now, how the recycling companies work is a different matter. Some of them ship the devices to unlicensed or fraudulent companies in Africa or Asia for disassembly, which is often...um...suboptimal. But that is an entirely different problem, actually an enforcement problem since this behavior is (afaik) illegal.
The US has a much bigger problem - not only with E-waste, but with garbage in general. Hauling your garbage off to dumps and burying it, having zero control over what lands in those dumps, geez. Separate the bulk recyclables, incinerate the trash (free electricity + heat), run the ash through separators to recover more metals and minerals. But no, it gets buried, the dumps will eventually leak, and future generations will have to clean it all up.
Thank Apple and companies clowning them (Score:2)
Apple has the most recalcitrant approach to repairs, and their response to customers' inquires on repairability is a thinly veiled "Fuck you kindly". Apple can get away with this because it has a captive audience, plus it offers them something they care about, such as a seamless experience and stuff - I don't know very well as i am not an Apple product user but I am not so stupid that I'd deprecate all of Apple's advantages. However, it is infuriating that the entire computer industry is now following them
China's stopped taking a lot of waste (Score:2)
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I live in a red state (Score:2)
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Design for less waste, balanced with Profits. (Score:2)
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These things should be standardized - like what happened with 95% of Cell phones and the Micro USB. That became a pseudo standard for many devices that are still usable!
That was not an accident, nor is it a pseudo standard. The European Union mandated Micro USB for cellular phones, by law. The EU is a large enough market that it sloshed into a global standard. The extra vigorish extracted by making two different models of the same phone and charging for proprietary replacement chargers in the rest of the world wasn't worth the expense.
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E-Waste (Score:2)
Call your local church? (Score:2)
Explain your problem and ask them to see if someone will take it to a charity shop or what other contacts they may have who will take it off you.
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The same as the poundage from accidently discarded BitCoins..
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Maybe they could make some pudding [youtube.com].
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Bleh, here's one [youtube.com] in much higher quality.
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He was given dominion over the various and sundry living things on the Earth. He was put in the garden of Eden to dress and keep it. That last would be the closest parallel. We've done a particularly poor job of "keeping it".
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Alarmist nonsense. God gave man dominion over the Earth to do as he pleases. [etc etc]
For a moment I thought you were being serious. Seems to have gone over the heads of other responders though.
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but then only outlaws will own soldering irons and glue guns. please think of the children.
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Until they will release USB-D after some years or whatever it will be called. Remember there will always be a new USB plug created every few years.
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On the same playing field, companies would innovate within these new constraints.
If they can do it for the "cult of thin", they can do it for repairability.
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The fridge: buy a new fan motor, install it yasself. Will probably take less time than buying/installing a new fridge.
As far as the warranties, many electronics are thrown out not because they're broken, but because they're unfashionable. I can't count how much good stuff I've picked up waiting for "recycling" on the street.
Laptops: buy Lenovo or commercial/gov't grade Dell. Far better than new Macs. The newer iMacs have a fragile glass screen *glued* over the innards -- sound familiar? The newer MacBo
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GE fridge, its not quite 3 years old, the fan makes a noise because the bearings in it are stuffed I'm guessing, not worth getting it fixed, I hate GE now, GE of all companies should be-able to build a fridge with parts that last longer than 5 minutes. Will put up with it until I can afford to throw it away and buy something different.
I worked at GE for a while. Their appliance division in Louisville, KY is now owned by the Chinese. But, .... When they were still building appliances, they would have engineers build and test prototypes. After the reliability goals were obtained, the designs were passed to MBA's, purchasing agents, and accountants that would do what they called a "cost out". They were charged with finding cheaper suppliers, and the cheaper parts are what went into production. The only posters of "successful" employe
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