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Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how

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Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan's trick Land. I'm an executive producer

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Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works, and I love all things tech.

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Speaker 1: You know, I start off these podcasts saying I love

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Speaker 1: all things tech, and you've heard a few where I

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Speaker 1: have to walk that back. It is obviously an exaggeration.

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Speaker 1: I don't love all things tech. I do enjoy learning

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Speaker 1: about and talking about technology. But while I love tech,

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Speaker 1: I also recognize that it has good points and bad points, right.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's like any tool. It could be used

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Speaker 1: for good or for ill. It could be used responsibly

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Speaker 1: or irresponsibly. I think it's important that we take a good,

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Speaker 1: hard look at the potential negative impact of technology so

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Speaker 1: that we can make the best use of it with

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Speaker 1: the fewest negative consequences. So today we're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about e waste or electronic waste, because it's a real

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Speaker 1: problem for many reasons. One of the big ones is

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Speaker 1: that we live in an era in which companies are

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Speaker 1: really pushing out new products at a rapid pace and

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Speaker 1: doing their best to convince you that you need to

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Speaker 1: buy or upgrade or whatever on a frequent basis. That's

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Speaker 1: how these companies make their money, so it comes as

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Speaker 1: no surprise that they would do this. It's the nature

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Speaker 1: of business, and that means a couple of things have

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Speaker 1: to happen to make that business plan actually work. And

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Speaker 1: one of those things is that ideally you make a

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Speaker 1: product that's good, but not so good that your customers

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Speaker 1: will never need another one after they buy the first one.

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Speaker 1: It's the everlasting gob stopper problem of Willy Wonka. If

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Speaker 1: you actually made a candy that never got any smaller

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Speaker 1: and never lost its flavor, people would only buy one

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Speaker 1: and would never need a second one. And where do

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Speaker 1: you go then? So as another example in the tech world,

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Speaker 1: let's let's imagine that you have created a really cool

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Speaker 1: smart watch and it actually has features that people find

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Speaker 1: really compelling. You made the first smart watch that a

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Speaker 1: a larger audience thinks that actually makes a lot of sense.

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Speaker 1: So your market is going to be everybody who might

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Speaker 1: want and who can afford a smart watch. Now, obviously

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Speaker 1: that doesn't include every single human being. Some people are

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Speaker 1: not going to be able to afford it, some people

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Speaker 1: are not going to be interested in it. But you're

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Speaker 1: trying to target everyone who would want one and who

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Speaker 1: could afford one. So now, let's say you are incredibly

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Speaker 1: successful in an unprecedented move. Somehow you have convinced every

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Speaker 1: single person that's in that target group to buy one

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Speaker 1: of your smart watches. Congratulations, it's a big hit. Only

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Speaker 1: what do you do next. Because you're operating a company,

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Speaker 1: you are not going to magically sell more of those

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Speaker 1: smart watches beyond your target group because the rest of

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Speaker 1: humanity either doesn't want one, or they can't afford one,

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Speaker 1: or both. So soon you go out of business because

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Speaker 1: you have nothing else to sell. Or let's say instead,

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Speaker 1: you want to make a smart watch, and you've come

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Speaker 1: up with a whole list of really cool, compelling features,

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Speaker 1: but you choose to only implement a selection of those

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Speaker 1: features in your first smart watch. You hold back a

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Speaker 1: few more. Maybe you're holding them back because they're not

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Speaker 1: quite ready. Maybe you're holding back because the technology of

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Speaker 1: the smart watch isn't quite at the point where it

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Speaker 1: can support those features. Or maybe you're doing it just

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Speaker 1: so that you can save some stuff for the next

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Speaker 1: generation of smart watches. You also make your smart watches

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Speaker 1: out of good but not great materials, including stuff like batteries.

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Speaker 1: That way, the smart watches begin to wear out after

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Speaker 1: a set amount of time, maybe a couple of years.

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Speaker 1: And your goal is that you want to win a

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Speaker 1: loyal base of customers, and then you want to convince

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Speaker 1: that same group to turn around and buy the next

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Speaker 1: generation of your hardware, and then do it again and again.

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Speaker 1: That's essentially how a lot of the smartphone industry works,

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Speaker 1: at least for brands like the iPhone. One of the

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Speaker 1: reasons Apple is so successful is as a company, it

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Speaker 1: has managed to convince customers to purchase updated versions of

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Speaker 1: its hardware time and time again, sometimes on an accelerated

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Speaker 1: time scale. It might not happen with every generation for

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Speaker 1: every product, but it happens enough to keep the company

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Speaker 1: really profitable. I'm sure you know people. If you are

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Speaker 1: not one of these people, you probably know somebody who

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Speaker 1: upgrades their iPhone every year, so they get the latest

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Speaker 1: version of the iPhone every single twelve months. That's the

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Speaker 1: kind of of era we are in. And while that

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Speaker 1: doesn't cover every single Apple customer, it covers a lot

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Speaker 1: of them. And there are a lot more customers who

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Speaker 1: every two years or three years will do this upgrade.

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Speaker 1: And while I could and probably one day will do

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Speaker 1: a full episode about the concept of planned obsolescence. That's

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Speaker 1: where a company makes a product that essentially has an

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Speaker 1: expiration date that the company has made something with the

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Speaker 1: plan of having that thing become obsolete within a certain

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Speaker 1: amount of time. Today, we're gonna look at the other

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Speaker 1: side of that problem. What do we do with the

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Speaker 1: obsolete technology when something better comes along, Whether the technology

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Speaker 1: still works or maybe it's beyond repair, what do we

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Speaker 1: do with it when we're done with it. That's why

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Speaker 1: we're going to talk about electronic waste. And it's a

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Speaker 1: huge category because it includes not just the technology that

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Speaker 1: no longer works or technology that's become obsolete. It includes

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Speaker 1: all tech that is no longer wanted by its original owner.

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Speaker 1: So you might have a phone that's several years old

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Speaker 1: but still works perfectly well, but you'll be confronted with

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Speaker 1: all sorts of advertising and messaging that what you should

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Speaker 1: do is ditch that old phone for something new and

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Speaker 1: shiny with a lot more features, and your old phone,

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Speaker 1: even if it is still in perfect working order, becomes

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Speaker 1: e waste the moment you decide you want a new phone.

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Speaker 1: What happens next is up to you. You have some options.

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Speaker 1: You might choose to recycle your phone, in which case

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Speaker 1: I recommend first you wipe everything off your device, whether

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Speaker 1: it's a phone, a computer, anything that could record your information.

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Speaker 1: You need to wipe that device clean, return it to

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Speaker 1: factory settings, make sure that your personal data is no

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Speaker 1: longer associated with that machine before you turn it in.

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Speaker 1: And I also recommend you do some research into the

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Speaker 1: various services that offer to either recycle components for you,

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Speaker 1: or they're going to donate the device to someone in need,

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Speaker 1: so it's going to be reused rather than recycled. Make

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Speaker 1: sure that that service is reputable. There are some companies

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Speaker 1: that can cause arm through the recycling process or through

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Speaker 1: the smoke screen of donating it to people in need.

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Speaker 1: More on that in just a second. Or maybe you

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Speaker 1: don't want to recycle or reuse, or maybe you just

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Speaker 1: don't have the the services that are readily available, or

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Speaker 1: you're not interested. You just shrug your shoulders and you

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Speaker 1: toss your phone in the trash. That is not a

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Speaker 1: great plan and it can be against the law depending

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Speaker 1: upon where you live. Many electronics have components in them

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Speaker 1: that are not environmentally friendly, and they don't exactly biodegrade.

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Speaker 1: Electronics might have toxic materials in them. In fact, most

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Speaker 1: of them do, stuff like lead, or arsenic or mercury.

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Speaker 1: Exposure to the elements would cause those chemicals possibly to

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Speaker 1: leach into the surrounding environment and it ain't fantastic. So

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Speaker 1: here's some examples of some of the stuff. So lead

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Speaker 1: toxicity can affect every organ system in our bodies. Lead

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Speaker 1: can inhibit or mimic the act of calcium and interact

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Speaker 1: with proteins. The nervous system is particularly vulnerable and lead

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Speaker 1: exposure can cause neurological damage, particularly in children. Mercury is

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Speaker 1: also nasty stuff. It's toxic to the nervous system. It's

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Speaker 1: also toxic to the digestive system and the immune system.

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Speaker 1: It can cause blindness, muscle weakness, impaired movement, and lots

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Speaker 1: of other neurological effects. Arsenic isn't a lot of electronics.

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Speaker 1: That's a carcinogen that's associated with many different types of cancer,

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Speaker 1: and it's also a neurotoxin. You've probably heard of arsenic

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Speaker 1: and old lace, Yeah, popular poison among uh mystery novelists.

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Speaker 1: It's popular because it's deadly stuff. Beryllium is another dangerous

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Speaker 1: element that's in a lot of electronics. Exposure to brillium

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Speaker 1: is typically pretty minimal for most of us, but you

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Speaker 1: could have continued exposure due to maybe living near, for example,

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Speaker 1: a recycling center that's not doing a good job at

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Speaker 1: containing this stuff. That can lead to health problems, ranging

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Speaker 1: from skin diseases to what is called acute beryllium disease,

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Speaker 1: which the symptoms are very similar to pneumonia. It can

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Speaker 1: even lead, although this is pretty rare, to lung cancer.

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Speaker 1: Then there's brominated flame retardants. This is actually a class

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Speaker 1: of synthetic chemicals. They're designed to make stuff less flammable.

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Speaker 1: Frequently it tends to be incorporated directly into plastics. Some

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Speaker 1: of them, like p B d e S, have been

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Speaker 1: linked to numerous health risks, including memory and learning problems.

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Speaker 1: Also thyroid disruption, reduced fertility, advanced puberty, and delayed mental

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Speaker 1: and physical development. So we're talking serious consequences from some

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Speaker 1: of the stuff that's inner electronics. There's also the possibility

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Speaker 1: that if you throw your tech away, instead of it

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Speaker 1: going to say a landfill, which is already pretty bad,

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Speaker 1: they might go to an incinerator. Which could be even

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Speaker 1: worse because then it gets thrown into a furnace and

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Speaker 1: subjected to high heat, it could use other pollutants and

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Speaker 1: those could all be released directly into the environment, causing

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Speaker 1: environmental harm and health hazards to the population nearby. Or

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Speaker 1: maybe you take a different choice. Maybe you don't send

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Speaker 1: it off to be reused recycled, maybe you don't throw

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Speaker 1: it away. Maybe it just takes up space in your home.

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Speaker 1: But that's also not great. Sometimes it feels like it's

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Speaker 1: the least bad situation, but you can find ways of

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Speaker 1: have it making sure your device is reused recycled responsibly.

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Speaker 1: I'll talk more about that in just a second, but

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Speaker 1: first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor.

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Speaker 1: In a Gallop survey found that of Americans would upgrade

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Speaker 1: their mobile handsets as soon as they were able to

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Speaker 1: according to their phone plans. So in America until fairly recently,

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Speaker 1: it was really common that these mobile providers would subsidize

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Speaker 1: handset costs through the actual phone service plans themselves, and

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Speaker 1: so the cost of the handsets to the customer were

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Speaker 1: much lower on an upfront basis then you would find

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Speaker 1: in other places in the world. So instead of having

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Speaker 1: to spend several hundred dollars to buy a handset. It

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Speaker 1: might be very cheap, but that cost would be incorporated

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Speaker 1: into your phone plan. It would just be spread out

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Speaker 1: over the course of your contract, which in America would

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Speaker 1: typically last about two years. So every two years your

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Speaker 1: contract would come up and you would become eligible to

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Speaker 1: upgrade your phone for a new contract. And everybody seemed

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Speaker 1: to benefit from this. You got a new phone, the

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Speaker 1: phone company had you for another two years. Ultimately, over

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Speaker 1: the course of those two years, you're probably paying more

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Speaker 1: for that handset than you would if you had bought

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Speaker 1: it all up front. It's just those payments have been

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Speaker 1: spread out over twenty four months. And it seemed like

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Speaker 1: it was a fairly nice proposition, except for the fact

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Speaker 1: that meant that people were generating a lot of electronic waste.

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Speaker 1: All these old handsets were starting to accumulate, and that's

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Speaker 1: just mobile handsets. Generally speaking. Computer experts say that the

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Speaker 1: average PCs lifespan is somewhere between three and five years.

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Speaker 1: That typically sometime around three to five years, averaging out

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Speaker 1: around four years. People need to upgrade their computers because

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Speaker 1: they're just out of date. They're not running the latest software.

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Speaker 1: Of the parts start to wear out, you know, batteries

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Speaker 1: start to go bad. So then you have to do

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Speaker 1: the same thing with your computer. What do you do

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Speaker 1: with that? That's a larger piece of equipment than a

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Speaker 1: mobile handset. Obviously, TVs tend to stick around a little

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Speaker 1: bit longer, despite the best efforts of various companies out there,

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Speaker 1: because every time I go to c e S that's

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Speaker 1: the big consumer electronics show in Las Vegas every year,

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Speaker 1: it seems like the big push is to come up

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Speaker 1: with a new feature that's going to convince someone who

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Speaker 1: bought a new television last year to do it all

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Speaker 1: over again. But generally speaking, people don't do that because

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Speaker 1: it's pretty expensive. People tend to stick with the same

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Speaker 1: television for unaverage around seven years before upgrading. I think

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Speaker 1: I'm behind the average there. I don't even I stick

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Speaker 1: with my televisions forever, it seems, but you don't see

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Speaker 1: that happen as frequently, But that still is an issue

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Speaker 1: if you do upgrade. Let's say that Thanksgiving roles around

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Speaker 1: in the States, that's typically when you start seeing these

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Speaker 1: big discounts on televisions that came out the year before,

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Speaker 1: and stores want to clear out those inventories to make

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Speaker 1: way for new TVs they're coming in in the new year. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you can get these crazy deals on what looks to

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Speaker 1: be like a great bargain for a television, but that

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Speaker 1: means you have to do something with your old TV again.

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Speaker 1: Electronic waste, and there are larger appliances that we tend

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Speaker 1: to stick with until we need to replace them. Right Like,

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Speaker 1: not a lot of people sit there and say I

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Speaker 1: want a new washer and dryer unless their old washer

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Speaker 1: and dryer is either become unreliable or has just plane broken.

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Speaker 1: But eventually we do have to replace these things. So

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Speaker 1: pretty much anything that has circuitry or electrical components fits

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Speaker 1: into the category of E waste, from lamps to washing

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Speaker 1: machines or smart watches to large screen televisions. An electronic

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Speaker 1: waste is one of the fastest growing types of waste

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Speaker 1: in the world. As we see technology adoption increase in

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Speaker 1: new markets like Africa, we're seeing those numbers climb rapidly. Now,

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Speaker 1: developed countries do tend to produce a lot more E waste.

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Speaker 1: As a rule, China is known for producing most of it,

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Speaker 1: and if you're looking at it from a percentage point

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Speaker 1: and looking at each nation. China leads the way, but

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Speaker 1: America is not super far behind. When it comes to

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Speaker 1: the highest amount of E waste generated per inhabitant, you've

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Speaker 1: gotta look over toward Australia, Polynesia, Micronesia in that area,

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Speaker 1: they generate the most E waste per inhabitant, but are

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Speaker 1: very few people there compared to other parts of the world,

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Speaker 1: so it doesn't amount to as much in a grand

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Speaker 1: scheme of things. The cost of consumer electronics also continues

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Speaker 1: to drop. That makes electronics more accessible to a wider

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Speaker 1: group of people, and I think that's a good thing.

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Speaker 1: I think have more people having access to technology is great.

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Speaker 1: In general. It's very important accessibility, making sure that we

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Speaker 1: start to whittle away at that gap between the halves

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Speaker 1: and the have nots. However, when you pair this with

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Speaker 1: the trend of pushing people to adopt and then abandoned

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Speaker 1: technology rapidly in favor of the next new thing, it

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Speaker 1: really exacerbates the problem of e waste. In seventeen, the

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Speaker 1: United Nations released a report on e waste that looked

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Speaker 1: into trends and challenges, and that report found that by sixteen,

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Speaker 1: the global production of E waste had hit forty four

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Speaker 1: point seven million metric tons of junk tech. That's the

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Speaker 1: equivalent of four thousand, five hundred Eiffel towers. Means on average,

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Speaker 1: each inhabitant produced six point one ms or nearly thirteen

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Speaker 1: and a half pounds of electronic waste. In twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 1: it was more like five point eight kilograms or twelve

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Speaker 1: point eight pounds, so the trend was on the rise.

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Speaker 1: Not only are we generating more, we're generating more per person.

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Speaker 1: Only of all of that E waste was properly documented

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Speaker 1: as being recycled or reused under was considered to be

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Speaker 1: the the appropriate guidelines. So according to the United Nations,

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Speaker 1: of the forty four point seven million metric tons of

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Speaker 1: E waste produced by twenty sixteen, one point seven million

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Speaker 1: tons of it got thrown into residual waste in higher

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Speaker 1: income countries, which pretty much means they either ended up

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Speaker 1: in landfills or in incinerators. Only eight point nine million

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Speaker 1: tons was documented as collected and recycled, So it's possible

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Speaker 1: the more waste is being recycled than we know about,

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Speaker 1: but it's undocumented and unverified, which ain't great and since

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Speaker 1: the trend seems to be on the rise, this is

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Speaker 1: really bad news. Now again, according to the u N report,

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Speaker 1: by twenty twenty one will see E waste hit fifty

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Speaker 1: two point two million metric tons. I'm citing the United

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Speaker 1: Nations a lot, but I should also point out that

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Speaker 1: it's very, very difficult to get an accurate representation of

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Speaker 1: exactly how big this problem is because a lot of

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Speaker 1: countries do not collect or publish statistics about electronic waste,

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Speaker 1: and in some cases you may not be entirely certain

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Speaker 1: that the findings that are being reported are accurate. So

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Speaker 1: some of the numbers that the UN relies upon come

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Speaker 1: from estimates as a result of doing some investigation and

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Speaker 1: then extrapolating those results to get a bigger picture of

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Speaker 1: view of what might be going on. And there are

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Speaker 1: a lot of advocacy groups out there that really want

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Speaker 1: to tackle E waste, and that is a good thing.

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Speaker 1: I don't disagree with their motivation. However, I will say

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Speaker 1: that sometimes some of these groups tend to present numbers

303
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:06,280
Speaker 1: that I personally cannot track down to a verifiable source.

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00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,720
Speaker 1: That is less good. I definitely agree we need to

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00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:15,160
Speaker 1: acknowledge and tackle the E waste problem in a responsible way. However,

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00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,359
Speaker 1: presenting information as fact without any evidence to back it

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Speaker 1: up is a really good way to allow people who

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Speaker 1: oppose your philosophy a means of criticizing your methods. So,

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Speaker 1: in other words, you're just opening up the door for

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Speaker 1: someone to tear down your argument, because if they can

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Speaker 1: say this number you're citing as fact has no evidence

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Speaker 1: to back it up, then it's like they're saying, well,

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Speaker 1: you're arguing that something is a problem, but you can't

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Speaker 1: even prove to me that the problem exists. That's not great.

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Speaker 1: Many developed nations do have various programs in place to

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Speaker 1: deal with electronic waste, things that you are supposed to

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Speaker 1: do if you are trying to get rid of old electronics. However,

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Speaker 1: these various programs aren't always followed properly, and in fact,

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Speaker 1: some practices that are commonplace in these countries are technically illegal. However,

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Speaker 1: they are rarely enforced, so you might see people throw

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Speaker 1: stuff out in the garbage when they're supposed to follow

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Speaker 1: a very different protocol, but because there's not really any

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Speaker 1: way of policing that, and even if there were, there's

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00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,280
Speaker 1: not a high likelihood of it being prosecuted. There's no

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Speaker 1: teeth to any legislation. People have to do it because

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Speaker 1: they want to be responsible, not because they're worried about

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Speaker 1: being punished otherwise. So appealing to people's responsibility, to their

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Speaker 1: to their desire to be a good person might be

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Speaker 1: more helpful. Just because it's not very practical in most

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Speaker 1: cases to come up with pollution police. Developing nations have

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Speaker 1: it fairly rough. Uh. These are the countries that did

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Speaker 1: not benefit from gradually developing this technology and building out

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Speaker 1: an infrastructure to support it. Instead, they leap frogged into

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Speaker 1: the modern era of electronics without having done that, and

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00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,680
Speaker 1: so they aren't able to deal with the consequences as

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Speaker 1: readily as the rest of the world, which has kind

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Speaker 1: of grown into this. So I'm talking about places like

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Speaker 1: lots of countries in Africa which have thankfully gotten access

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Speaker 1: to things like cell towers, cell phones, a lot of

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Speaker 1: cellular based technologies, but they did this by leap frogging

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Speaker 1: other developments, and they don't have the systems in place

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Speaker 1: to handle e waste. And it's also true and unfortunate

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Speaker 1: that the people who are at least able to afford

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Speaker 1: the problems that come along with electronic waste are the

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Speaker 1: same ones who have to deal with it. In many cases,

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Speaker 1: there's also an issue with developing countries accepting e waste

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Speaker 1: for recycling purposes. Essentially, you've got UH places that will

348
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Speaker 1: either accept or they will actually go out and buy

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Speaker 1: electronic waste from other countries, which is not necessarily a

350
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,919
Speaker 1: bad thing on the surface. Recycling can be an industry

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Speaker 1: unto itself, and it can provide a valuable service while

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Speaker 1: recapturing some of the raw materials that were used to

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Speaker 1: make electronics. The u N actually reported that those raw

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Speaker 1: materials were worth about fifty five billion euro in UH

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Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen. The euro averaged out to be about

356
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Speaker 1: one point one dollars per euro, so that would be

357
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Speaker 1: that the raw materials were worth around sixty billion dollars.

358
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Speaker 1: So it would definitely be better too to reclaim some

359
00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,800
Speaker 1: of that value to leverage it rather than just throw

360
00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:41,960
Speaker 1: it out if you can do that. UH and I

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Speaker 1: talked about some of the harmful materials that are in electronics,

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Speaker 1: but they can also contain some really valuable stuff in it,

363
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Speaker 1: like gold, copper, alumium, and steel. But the bad part

364
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:56,440
Speaker 1: comes into play with the practices and processes for recycling electronics.

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Speaker 1: If there are a few protections in place and a

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Speaker 1: recye link center is not following careful protocols, the process

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Speaker 1: of recycling can be very harmful to the environment as

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00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:09,679
Speaker 1: well as really the people who are working at that

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Speaker 1: facility and for the surrounding population as a as a possibility.

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Speaker 1: A lot of these places, the reason why they are

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Speaker 1: an attractive place to send recycling for the rest of

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Speaker 1: the world is that it's inexpensive to do it um

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Speaker 1: And part of the reason for that is because in

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Speaker 1: a lot of these countries the cost of labor is low,

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Speaker 1: meaning they're not paying people very much. And uh that

376
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,680
Speaker 1: becomes a delicate balance too, because if the amount you're

377
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:42,920
Speaker 1: spending to recycle is larger than the amount you're getting back,

378
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,960
Speaker 1: you're in a losing proposition. So you can't continue to

379
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:50,720
Speaker 1: operate that way. But in order for you to do

380
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,240
Speaker 1: this in an efficient way, you have to find out,

381
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,400
Speaker 1: you know, what's a what's a low cost method of

382
00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,600
Speaker 1: recycling this stuff? And it tends to be sending it

383
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:05,879
Speaker 1: to very poor nations that very low wages and often

384
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 1: do not treat their employees very well. There's a terrible

385
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 1: standard of living, and the measures that are supposed to

386
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,239
Speaker 1: be there in order to ensure people's safety may not

387
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:22,080
Speaker 1: be there at all, so it's very worrisome. Typically, the

388
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:26,800
Speaker 1: way a recycling center would process electronic waste would follow

389
00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:31,200
Speaker 1: a pattern. So first it would have to get this

390
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,119
Speaker 1: electronic waste, which is a non trivial problem. Transporting materials

391
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,520
Speaker 1: requires energy, um it has an economic impact. So if

392
00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:41,359
Speaker 1: it takes a lot of energy, if it takes a

393
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:43,439
Speaker 1: lot of money to get the electronic waste to the

394
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,680
Speaker 1: recycling center, you could be operating in a loss, which

395
00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 1: means it's a nonstarter. Once you get it. The next

396
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:54,240
Speaker 1: step could be an assessment of each piece of electronic waste,

397
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,080
Speaker 1: because some of these devices could be in good working order.

398
00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:00,720
Speaker 1: Then if it's operable, or if you can do repairs

399
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 1: on it and make it operable, you might want to

400
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 1: resell that device for a profit and keep it in use.

401
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 1: And that's one of the best options out there, honestly,

402
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,880
Speaker 1: because it increases the utility of a device beyond its

403
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 1: initial lifespan with its original owner, and you don't have

404
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:19,040
Speaker 1: to go through the rest of this process. People can

405
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,720
Speaker 1: still get use out of it. It removes the necessity

406
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,239
Speaker 1: to make a new one of those, so it is

407
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,360
Speaker 1: reusing is one of the best options. In fact, reusing

408
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 1: in general, when you're looking at reusing versus recycling, tends

409
00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:35,600
Speaker 1: to be one of the best options out there. However,

410
00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:40,080
Speaker 1: it can be tricky to do because sometimes it's not

411
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,879
Speaker 1: the easiest thing to repair some of these gadgets. More

412
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,320
Speaker 1: in that in just a second. But if you can

413
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,719
Speaker 1: do it, that tends to be step one. Sort out

414
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 1: all the stuff that could actually be reclaimed, reused, resold next,

415
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,480
Speaker 1: assuming we're going to then reclaim the stuff inside the

416
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 1: electronics that you cannot sell again. Maybe they're irreparably broken,

417
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 1: maybe they're obsolete. Maybe there's no demand for those electronics,

418
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:10,720
Speaker 1: so they might work, but you're never going to sell

419
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:13,880
Speaker 1: them anyway, but just because no one wants them. Then

420
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,960
Speaker 1: you want to disassemble the device to get at the

421
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 1: various components inside of it, especially the components that were

422
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:23,600
Speaker 1: really interested in, the ones that have materials like gold

423
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,639
Speaker 1: or copper on them. But that's not always easy to do,

424
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,159
Speaker 1: and this is also why it's very difficult to repair

425
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 1: some types of electronics. More and more electronic devices are

426
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:36,199
Speaker 1: being locked away in their form factors like in the

427
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,359
Speaker 1: old days, good old days, children sit down. Used to

428
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,040
Speaker 1: be able to take electronics apart and mess with them.

429
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 1: So you hear a lot of stories about how young

430
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:48,320
Speaker 1: engineers when they were kids would take apart various gadgets

431
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:50,280
Speaker 1: in order to learn how they worked, and then would

432
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:52,840
Speaker 1: put them back together again and they would work. Still

433
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,359
Speaker 1: these days, it's a lot harder to do that because

434
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:58,719
Speaker 1: a lot of electronics are not designed to be taken apart.

435
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 1: The industry a whole has moved to a model that's

436
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:06,760
Speaker 1: difficult to do that. Apple is notorious for this. You

437
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 1: get a new iPhone that is not meant to be

438
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 1: taken apart. You are not meant to take the battery

439
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,120
Speaker 1: out of that. It is meant to be a single,

440
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:19,400
Speaker 1: unified device for its useful life. The company this way

441
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 1: can keep a really tight control on how its technology

442
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,320
Speaker 1: is used. They have a lot of control over it

443
00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:27,760
Speaker 1: as a platform. But this comes at a price. Manufacturers

444
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,439
Speaker 1: tend to use a lot of glue these days. That

445
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: makes it really tricky to take the stuff apart, and

446
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:35,680
Speaker 1: it just makes it hard not just to do repairs,

447
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,280
Speaker 1: but to get at the various components in order to

448
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:40,840
Speaker 1: do some recycling. Now, if the device has parts that

449
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:45,080
Speaker 1: are particularly valuable, those might be set aside for resale value.

450
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 1: Now this is particularly true for like older television's things

451
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 1: like that. You might find that there's some working components

452
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 1: in there that you can take apart or take out

453
00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:58,879
Speaker 1: of the device and then sell those as replacement parts

454
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,760
Speaker 1: or repair parts, and then just recycled the rest of

455
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:05,280
Speaker 1: the stuff. Now, once you've disassembled the tech and you've

456
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:09,080
Speaker 1: removed anything that can easily be resold, then you would

457
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 1: put it through a shredder to grind the components down

458
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:17,159
Speaker 1: into smaller pieces. Typically, after that point, you would have

459
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 1: some human employees go through this shredded material and remove

460
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 1: anything that might be overtly hazardous, like pieces of battery,

461
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,439
Speaker 1: and then everything that's left over after you remove the

462
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 1: hazardous stuff gets shredded again into even smaller pieces. Then

463
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,680
Speaker 1: you need to separate out those pieces into different stuff.

464
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:38,160
Speaker 1: One way you might do this is using a really

465
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:42,880
Speaker 1: big magnet and pass it over the shredded material. Anything

466
00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,119
Speaker 1: that's uh, this ferrist is going to be attracted to

467
00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:48,840
Speaker 1: the magnet and we'll get pulled up by it and

468
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:52,160
Speaker 1: you can then separate that out. Uh, you might otherwise

469
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:56,840
Speaker 1: need to use various methodologies to sort the particles into

470
00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,920
Speaker 1: different densities which will represent different materials, and thus you

471
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,719
Speaker 1: get different piles of stuff. Um there's a lot of

472
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:08,080
Speaker 1: things like centrifuges or platforms that shake a lot to

473
00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:10,520
Speaker 1: help sort the stuff out. And you do this over

474
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 1: and over again until you've got your various piles, and

475
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 1: stuff that has like precious metals might end up being

476
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:22,159
Speaker 1: uh exposed to an acid bath to burn away anything

477
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:26,359
Speaker 1: that isn't that metal. And then the pieces of metal

478
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,080
Speaker 1: can be gathered together and then eventually smelted into ingots.

479
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:34,680
Speaker 1: Glass and plastics can be separated for reprocessing. And then

480
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 1: you have done everything you could to reclaim as much

481
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 1: as you could from those devices. And if you've done

482
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 1: it carefully and responsibly, you've done it without releasing toxic

483
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 1: fumes or toxic materials into the environment or harming your employees.

484
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 1: That's easier said than done. It is a challenging thing.

485
00:28:56,240 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 1: It is possible. You can do recycling responsibly, but it

486
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: requires a lot of careful work and governance. I have

487
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,640
Speaker 1: more to say about electronic waste, but before I get

488
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,720
Speaker 1: to it, let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor.

489
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 1: So on October eighteen, which was just a few days

490
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,960
Speaker 1: before I jumped into the studio to record this episode,

491
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 1: the world had its very first International e Waste Day.

492
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 1: The goal there was not to generate more electronic waste,

493
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,920
Speaker 1: but rather to raise awareness of proper recycling and reuse

494
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:42,239
Speaker 1: programs for electronics, raising awareness over the illegal selling of

495
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: e waste two countries that are buying it for processing

496
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: and also for data mining. That's something that you should

497
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:52,160
Speaker 1: keep in mind that some of these companies that are

498
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 1: offering to take electronics off your hands might actually be

499
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 1: going through them very carefully to see if there's any

500
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,640
Speaker 1: data they can they can get from it, any personal data,

501
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,320
Speaker 1: any like logins, that kind of stuff. This actually does happen,

502
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: and it happens on a pretty big basis. And because

503
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 1: these companies will often send all this electronic waste to

504
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 1: some other country that's outside the jurisdiction of whatever country

505
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:18,200
Speaker 1: you live in. I'm talking about the United States in

506
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:20,760
Speaker 1: particular because that's where I live, but it happens all

507
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,720
Speaker 1: over the world. That's a dangerous thing. And then they'll

508
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:28,840
Speaker 1: sell that data to interested buyers, um often wholesale. They'll

509
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,440
Speaker 1: just sell huge amounts of data at a time. That's

510
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,080
Speaker 1: one way of doing it. So it's very important to

511
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:41,720
Speaker 1: look at various UH resources online in order to get

512
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 1: an idea of the reputation of the various services that

513
00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,640
Speaker 1: are available out there for you to use for recycling

514
00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 1: or reusing UM. Recycling can be economically difficult to support

515
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,040
Speaker 1: unless you're talking about markets that have those very low

516
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: costs of labor, like I said before, the low salaries

517
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 1: with no benefits, bad working conditions, that kind of thing.

518
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 1: So it is a very tricky subject without it being

519
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:14,080
Speaker 1: more profitable than the only people who are willing to

520
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:16,800
Speaker 1: do it are going to be the ones who aren't

521
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 1: having to spend so much money to go through the

522
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 1: process in the first place. So finding a reputable service

523
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 1: that will recycle electronics in a way that is responsible,

524
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:32,480
Speaker 1: it's not exploitative of its workforce, it's not exposing the

525
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:37,760
Speaker 1: environment needlessly to these dangerous materials that are in electronics,

526
00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:42,360
Speaker 1: that's doing its due diligence is a bit of a challenge.

527
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,479
Speaker 1: They do exist, so it is important, and there are

528
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:48,160
Speaker 1: many of them, and they're all over the world, so

529
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 1: going into specific ones it is kind of difficult. Sometimes

530
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 1: they're hyperlocal organizations that are really looking for as much

531
00:31:55,880 --> 00:32:00,440
Speaker 1: reuse and re saling ability as possible. Um But there

532
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 1: are some other alternatives to this approach, things that couldn't

533
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 1: you can't just do with any electronics, but things that

534
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 1: might happen in the future. So, for example, there have

535
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:17,880
Speaker 1: been some proposals to make a new type of electronics

536
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 1: that are dissolvable, in other words, electronics that will actually

537
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:29,440
Speaker 1: over time degrade into harmless materials. And the first application

538
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 1: that was thought of for this kind of stuff was

539
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 1: perhaps for medical devices, so like a temporary medical device

540
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 1: that you might have to have surgically implanted. But if

541
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:42,240
Speaker 1: it's a device that could over time degrade harmlessly and

542
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:46,080
Speaker 1: get absorbed by the body or excreted in some way,

543
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:50,560
Speaker 1: then you have eliminated the necessity for a follow up surgery,

544
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 1: which is a good thing. You know, you want to

545
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,680
Speaker 1: limit surgeries as much as you can, because every time

546
00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 1: you have a surgery, that opens up more risk for

547
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:02,239
Speaker 1: things like infection. So it's an interesting idea, but you

548
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:05,680
Speaker 1: could also apply that same principle to general electronics, not

549
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 1: just medical devices. In fact, one of the researchers who

550
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:13,600
Speaker 1: was looking into dissolvable electronics had gone so far as

551
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:17,920
Speaker 1: to suggest that companies could invest in this technology and

552
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 1: then make electronics that really do have an expiration date,

553
00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 1: electronics that after a certain amount of time, we're going

554
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:28,240
Speaker 1: to start to degrade, which would necessitate you going out

555
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:32,880
Speaker 1: and buying a replacement, which sounds pretty awful from a

556
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:35,400
Speaker 1: consumer point of view. I would hate the idea of

557
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 1: I saved up money, I got myself this nice smartphone,

558
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: and then two years later it literally will not work anymore,

559
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 1: and I will need to get a new smartphone because

560
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:50,080
Speaker 1: the one I have is is decaying into various compounds,

561
00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: harmless compounds. Uh. That might be great for the environment,

562
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:55,440
Speaker 1: it's not great for my bank account. It's not great

563
00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 1: for my morale as a consumer. And you could argue

564
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,040
Speaker 1: the companies are already kind of doing this, only without

565
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 1: the actual dissolving into inorganic or or organic compounds part

566
00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:13,400
Speaker 1: where you've got companies that because they are constantly updating

567
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 1: the operating systems of the hardware that they are involved with,

568
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:23,080
Speaker 1: like Apple or Google with Android. Because they're constantly making

569
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,560
Speaker 1: those those updates, they eventually get to a point where

570
00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:30,160
Speaker 1: the older hardware cannot support the latest version of the

571
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:34,320
Speaker 1: operating system, and the longer you stick with your older device,

572
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:37,879
Speaker 1: the further behind you get, so you find you may

573
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 1: find that you cannot install certain applications because you can't

574
00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:45,680
Speaker 1: run the relevant operating system on that hardware. Well, you

575
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,520
Speaker 1: could argue that that's essentially the same thing as designing

576
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:52,960
Speaker 1: a device that is kind of in a self destruct mode,

577
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 1: where it's going to fall apart after a certain amount

578
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:58,280
Speaker 1: of time. It's just that in the case of the

579
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,359
Speaker 1: you know, obsolescence through the operating system, it doesn't come

580
00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:05,439
Speaker 1: with the benefit of degrading into harmless materials. So it's

581
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:08,000
Speaker 1: kind of the worst of all worlds. But still, I

582
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:09,279
Speaker 1: don't think a lot of people are going to be

583
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 1: calling for dissolvable electronics. I also suspect that this researcher

584
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 1: who was suggesting that companies could invest in this technology

585
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:23,319
Speaker 1: so that they could make you know, gadgets that become

586
00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:27,439
Speaker 1: obsolete that the literally break within a certain amount of time.

587
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,319
Speaker 1: I suspect he was doing this in where to get

588
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,360
Speaker 1: funding to continue his work, and not that he was

589
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,439
Speaker 1: arguing that electronics need to break down after a certain

590
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,200
Speaker 1: amount of time, but rather I need to continue my

591
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,879
Speaker 1: work in creating this medical technology. I want to make.

592
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,440
Speaker 1: One way I could do it is to convince big

593
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,640
Speaker 1: companies to pour some money into it. That's my suspicion.

594
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:50,600
Speaker 1: I don't know it for a fact, but there are

595
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:55,200
Speaker 1: also other suggestions. One of my favorites is to create

596
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:59,480
Speaker 1: incentives for companies to create buy back programs. In other words,

597
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 1: the companies that make the technology themselves will buy back

598
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 1: older versions incarnations of that technology. So not say that

599
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 1: Apple creates a new iPhone as it does every year,

600
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 1: but it also offers a buy back program where it

601
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:21,560
Speaker 1: will buy your old iPhone for obviously a big markdown

602
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,480
Speaker 1: because you've owned it for at least a year, maybe more.

603
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:29,800
Speaker 1: And uh, it will take the iPhone off your hands.

604
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:33,120
Speaker 1: And from there, maybe the company resells it at a profit,

605
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:37,080
Speaker 1: or maybe they take it upon themselves to go through

606
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:42,400
Speaker 1: the process of recycling those components in a way that's responsible. Uh.

607
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:46,560
Speaker 1: The way to really encourage this might be through tax

608
00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:51,400
Speaker 1: incentive programs on a government level, where companies that participate

609
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:55,400
Speaker 1: in such practices get nice tax breaks as a result.

610
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,880
Speaker 1: Anyone who has followed any of the major tech companies

611
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 1: knows those tech companies love their tax breaks. It's amazing

612
00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:08,920
Speaker 1: that a company can become like a trillion dollar company

613
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:12,360
Speaker 1: and yet not owe any taxes. That's a discussion for

614
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:17,160
Speaker 1: another time. It does not belong here. I'm just getting grouchy.

615
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:22,560
Speaker 1: But those are some possible ways of approaching this problem

616
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:28,279
Speaker 1: that don't go down the same path of uh, exploiting

617
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:33,879
Speaker 1: people who are extremely vulnerable. Obviously, those people who are

618
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:39,440
Speaker 1: gainfully employed through the recycling industry, even if they're being exploited,

619
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:41,239
Speaker 1: it would be really nice if we could come up

620
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:44,799
Speaker 1: with a an industry that they could work in where

621
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:49,200
Speaker 1: they're not being treated so poorly. But uh, we gotta,

622
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 1: we gotta start solving the problems where we can and

623
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,600
Speaker 1: work our way to the bigger, bigger issues because they

624
00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:59,600
Speaker 1: are huge and there are no easy answers. Life is

625
00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,640
Speaker 1: a complicated thing, but I thought it was important to

626
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:08,000
Speaker 1: really address this topic and to urge you that if

627
00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:10,560
Speaker 1: you have old electronic devices that you need to get

628
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:15,600
Speaker 1: rid of, look into the various recycling or you know,

629
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:20,279
Speaker 1: resale options that are available to you and give them

630
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,480
Speaker 1: some serious consideration. Do a little bit more than just googling.

631
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:26,279
Speaker 1: Look look into those services, make sure they have a

632
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:30,040
Speaker 1: good reputation, and that way you can be a responsible

633
00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:33,879
Speaker 1: citizen of the of the world. You can avoid as

634
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:38,200
Speaker 1: best you can contributing to pollution or to human misery.

635
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,759
Speaker 1: And I think that's a pretty noble goal that we

636
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:47,400
Speaker 1: can all kind of get behind. And uh, as I

637
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:50,520
Speaker 1: said at the beginning, I still love technology. I just

638
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:54,400
Speaker 1: have to again keep in mind both the positives and

639
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 1: the negatives. It's always important to look at the whole picture,

640
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,120
Speaker 1: not turn a blind eye to stuff just because as

641
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 1: it's inconvenient. If you guys have any suggestions for future

642
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: episodes of tech Stuff, or you've got any requests, maybe

643
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:09,880
Speaker 1: there's a company you want me to talk about, or

644
00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 1: a product or something along those lines, or maybe just

645
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:15,840
Speaker 1: a general tech topic, head on over to our website

646
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:20,359
Speaker 1: it's tech stuff podcast dot com. And over there you're

647
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,759
Speaker 1: gonna find links to how to get in touch with

648
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:26,560
Speaker 1: me through email or Facebook or Twitter, Instagram, that kind

649
00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:29,319
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