Take A Bite Out of International E-waste Crisis

As I was perusing the South Wales Argus the other day, searching for information about an off-network data security incident that had occurred in the region, I came across one of those little news items that makes you smile.
Granted, I tap into some mighty obscure online news resources when I’m gleaning the global media for items to include in our news editions, but even my chance discovery of an environmental article that would interest me on the website of such a small publication was rare. Still, there are times when small-town newspapers provide a comfortable level of subject matter and detail that make you feel good.
I was amazed to find in this tiny Welsh newspaper that a local dog, Tubby the Labrador, had earned a reward for collecting 26,000 plastic bottles for recycling.

Anyone who reads my blogs knows that I have a love for dogs, so news about a pup who recycles is bound to get my attention. The news article, written in that small-town newspaper style that remains endearing even as newspapers across the U.S. are shutting down in bankruptcy, noted that Tubby received a rawhide bone wrapped in ribbons from the local borough’s government leaders and, more specifically, kudos from the local environmental mascot, Dan Can the Super Recycler. Can you imagine? Tubby meets Dan Can. I only wish there had been a photograph.
The article went on to explain that Tubby likes to track down discarded bottles, crushes them in his jaws and brings them to his owner - a Mrs. Sandra Gilmore of Cadoc Road in West Pontnewydd at Torfaen - for recycling. I think any dog that collects plastic bottles for recycling is pretty cool and it was good to see a lighthearted story about the environment. It’s just sad that I had to go to a newspaper in Wales to find it. The e-waste news elsewhere in the world remains pretty grim.
An article in an African newspaper noted that the tremendous amount of e-waste on that continent could soon double or triple as a result of strong growth in the information and communications technology sector. I found two articles in a Chinese newspaper that detailed the challenges being faced by people in that country where e-waste is becoming recognized as both a source of profit for small businesses dismantling used electronics and a harbinger of environmental destruction. In one region of the country, more than 1.5 million tons of junked computers, cell phones and other devices are dismantled each year, with much of the e-waste being dumped into the city's waterways.
And another international newspaper reported that e-waste in Germany is growing three times faster than regular household garbage, which environmental experts blamed on manufacturers who fail to collect their used electronic equipment, poor enforcement of waste laws and consumers who do not know what to do with used equipment.
All of these articles, along with many others that expose similar problems with e-waste in North America, illustrate our global need to properly manage e-waste and prolong the use of existing equipment. New Gartner research indicates that businesses that have typically kept desktop PCs for four years and notebooks for three are being influenced to extend those life cycles due to the current economic downturn. Many organizations are looking to extend their PC life cycles as a means to defer purchases and reduce capital costs. Gartner predicted that during the next two years, businesses will seek to extend the life cycle to five years for desktops and to four years for notebooks. This trend will help keep e-waste out of landfills or from being shipped overseas where it is dismantled with no regard to health or environmental conditions.
So I guess there is some good news about e-waste – and awareness seems to be growing. Hopefully, with Earth Day – a big deal for Redemtech each year – less than a month away, more good news about managing e-waste will be forthcoming.
That’s something that Tubby the Labrador could sink his teeth into.