Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tex Stuff from half
Speaker 1: stuff dot com. Hey there, and welcome to text Stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Strickland, and and today we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: something that we've actually mentioned on previous episodes of text Stuff,
Speaker 1: and that's recycling electronics. A long time ago, Chris and
Speaker 1: I did a full episode on electronic waste or e
Speaker 1: waste and talked about the dangers of it and why
Speaker 1: you would want to recycle or refurbish goods that are
Speaker 1: electronics consumer electronics. But we thought it was worth revisiting
Speaker 1: this because things have developed in the time since we recorded.
Speaker 1: Things have changed. Yes, tech Stuff has been around for
Speaker 1: five almost six years now. Tech Stuff was invented shortly
Speaker 1: before the Internet. We used to Chris and I at
Speaker 1: the back in the day used to just find people
Speaker 1: and talk to them about technology as they asked us
Speaker 1: to please let them go. But now we've got a
Speaker 1: different arrangement. Um we can reach a much broader audience,
Speaker 1: although we are not able to hold them until we're done.
Speaker 1: Other than that, though, I think things have improved. I
Speaker 1: think I think that is coming in the future. I
Speaker 1: think that some kind of haptic feedback shock shock system
Speaker 1: if you pause or you are allowed to listen to
Speaker 1: us at two times speed, but only if it pitches
Speaker 1: our voices up, because we like being chipmunks. Speak for
Speaker 1: yourself at any rate. Okay, let's let's talk about recycling.
Speaker 1: So this, this really is a major problem. Green Peace
Speaker 1: estimates that million tons, million tons. That's that's eight million
Speaker 1: metric tons f y i um of of e waste
Speaker 1: is generated every year, right and and and before we
Speaker 1: get a lot of emails saying, but that screen piece,
Speaker 1: you know, that bias, etcetera. We totally understand a lot
Speaker 1: of the sources we're pulling from our various organizations that
Speaker 1: have very specific philosophies when it comes to recycling. However,
Speaker 1: when it comes down to this one, I found lots
Speaker 1: and lots of different estimates that all came from different
Speaker 1: sources that essentially gravitated around this fifty million ton mark.
Speaker 1: So I pretty much subscribe to that now the million one.
Speaker 1: That one was quoted back in two thousand nine, So
Speaker 1: fifty million. It's not a surprise that that number has
Speaker 1: crept up to the higher end of that scale since then,
Speaker 1: I mean two thousand nine, we still had just the
Speaker 1: very dawn of the smartphone era as far as the
Speaker 1: consumers were concerned, right, I mean, the iPhone had only
Speaker 1: been out for a couple of years. Now we've got iPads,
Speaker 1: all these other kinds of tablets, all smartphones of all
Speaker 1: shapes and sizes, tons of different types of computers and
Speaker 1: video game consoles and all these other kind of elements.
Speaker 1: Not a big shock to see that there's this massive
Speaker 1: amount of stuff. And on top of that, the world
Speaker 1: of technology is one that encourages us to consume. Right.
Speaker 1: Oh sure, well, I mean every everyone wants, or not
Speaker 1: everyone necessarily, but most of us want, you know, the new, big,
Speaker 1: shiny thing, and and we want it to perform to
Speaker 1: our specifications. You know, we want to do that that
Speaker 1: stuff that makes it useful, which frequently means getting the
Speaker 1: new one as soon as it comes out, because we
Speaker 1: don't we don't want to feel like we're missing out
Speaker 1: on something, right. I mean, as an Android user, I
Speaker 1: feel this very keenly. You know. I think in some ways,
Speaker 1: Apple users have the better end of the deal, in
Speaker 1: the sense that they can generally expect that their products,
Speaker 1: specifically things like the iPhone and the iPad, will update
Speaker 1: once a year. iPads a little different. We saw two
Speaker 1: updates come a couple of years ago, in one year,
Speaker 1: in fact, like six months apart from each other, seven
Speaker 1: months something like that. But in general, the iPhone tends
Speaker 1: to get one update per year, and so while you
Speaker 1: still have that regular are drive to upgrade your devices.
Speaker 1: It's not like Android, where a new handset comes out
Speaker 1: from different manufacturers on a weekly basis. But either way,
Speaker 1: the message that we get from marketing, from companies, even
Speaker 1: from our peers is that you are missing out if
Speaker 1: you don't have the latest thing. But that means you
Speaker 1: have to do something with the old things you have.
Speaker 1: They will slowly accumulate in your home or maybe not
Speaker 1: so slowly, depending upon how how big a tech geek
Speaker 1: you are. I've got friends who it's like you walk
Speaker 1: into the computer history museum when you when you walk
Speaker 1: into their place, and you might have a junk drawer
Speaker 1: that's just junk smartphones from the last couple of years.
Speaker 1: But what's the responsible way of dealing with these things,
Speaker 1: of of offloading these electronics that aren't really you know,
Speaker 1: you're not using them, You're using the newest thing, So
Speaker 1: what do you do with the old ones? I mean
Speaker 1: apart from hand me downs to our friends and relatives,
Speaker 1: what do you do beyond that? I personally keep a
Speaker 1: few of them around as important curios of my past.
Speaker 1: I still have a beeper. Wow, yeah you had. Okay,
Speaker 1: there's a dark part of your past. I want to
Speaker 1: explore at some point because I I was, I was
Speaker 1: that person who while I cover technology and I love
Speaker 1: technology people, I mean I absolutely I am obsessed with it.
Speaker 1: I am also not the earliest of adopters, with a
Speaker 1: few exceptions, uh Android, I was an early adopter, but
Speaker 1: cell phones. I held off a long time on cell phones,
Speaker 1: so I was on the end of the like the
Speaker 1: initial rush had already happened. I was in the long tale.
Speaker 1: Maybe at the beginning of the long tail. It wasn't
Speaker 1: It wasn't like it was two thousand five or anything
Speaker 1: like that. But anyway, we have this encouraging culture built
Speaker 1: around electronics that encourage us to consume to buy new things,
Speaker 1: and then we have to worry about the old things.
Speaker 1: And until fairly recently, it hasn't been that public a
Speaker 1: concern about what to do with the old stuff. Now
Speaker 1: there were there were organizations and people who are thinking
Speaker 1: about this. For a couple of decades, sure, going all
Speaker 1: the way back to the nineteen seventies is really when
Speaker 1: people started becoming more concerned about what to do with
Speaker 1: with solid wastes in general and um and hazardous wastes
Speaker 1: in particular, and uh and and through through the years
Speaker 1: since then, various organizing bodies around the world have been, um,
Speaker 1: you know, just trying to raise awareness and and create
Speaker 1: laws for individual countries to to adopt. And we'll get
Speaker 1: into that a little bit more later on. But um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, so I mean, it's it's it's been in people.
Speaker 1: Was when the Basil Convention first put out a series
Speaker 1: of agreements that were like, hey, we should be thinking
Speaker 1: about this because this is a problem, right right, And
Speaker 1: and you know, the environmental movement, like you said, began
Speaker 1: in the seventy nineteen seventy was when the first Earth
Speaker 1: Day happened. And but but that was really looking at
Speaker 1: traditional waste problems. Electronic waste in nineteen seventy wasn't really
Speaker 1: a big thing. You know, you would buy an appliance
Speaker 1: and you would keep that appliance until it was broken
Speaker 1: beyond repair and then you would get a new one.
Speaker 1: But other than that and you know, you weren't necessarily
Speaker 1: upgrading your television that frequently or any of the other
Speaker 1: consumer electronics that were popular in the seventies. It wasn't
Speaker 1: really until we got to like the portable electronics of
Speaker 1: the mid seventies and then the personal computer era. Also,
Speaker 1: I mean, we didn't have circuit boards in every toaster, like,
Speaker 1: we didn't have smart toasters yet, so it was a
Speaker 1: little bit less of a specific issue stupid toaster. So
Speaker 1: let's look at some statistics about electronics and recycling and
Speaker 1: and just tossing stuff away. Uh. This is all information
Speaker 1: that I pulled from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Incorporated.
Speaker 1: They had a presentation that was all about the staff
Speaker 1: and the stats here mostly date from twelve, so they're
Speaker 1: pretty current. Uh. Keeping in mind, there are other stats
Speaker 1: that we could talk about. The Environmental Protection Agency that
Speaker 1: a report back in two thousand nine that said that
Speaker 1: only about a quarter of all the electronics ready for
Speaker 1: end of life management, meaning they are you are done
Speaker 1: with them, you do not want them anymore, only were
Speaker 1: collected for recycling back in two thousand nine, and the
Speaker 1: total weight of electronics ready to be discarded or recycled
Speaker 1: was about two point three seven million tons in two
Speaker 1: thousand nine. Now again that was for the United States.
Speaker 1: We're talking fifty million tons annually worldwide. So uh, for
Speaker 1: the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Incorporated. They have some
Speaker 1: other interesting statistics. They said that the United States exported
Speaker 1: forty seven point three million metric tons of scrap material
Speaker 1: in two thousand twelve. Now that includes more than just electronics.
Speaker 1: It's not that that's all electronics. Because these numbers start
Speaker 1: to conflict with each other. You're thinking, wait, we're producing
Speaker 1: the world's producing fifty million, but the US is exporting
Speaker 1: forty seven point three million, So this this is overall
Speaker 1: all scrap, right, And then they said that the value
Speaker 1: of the scrap materials was estimated at about twenty six
Speaker 1: billion dollars, a lot of money. According to the Federal
Speaker 1: Trade Commission in two thousand eleven, um, the the U
Speaker 1: s export of used electronic products was one point four
Speaker 1: five billion. So so that's of of that share, Yeah,
Speaker 1: of the twenty six billion, one point four five being electronics,
Speaker 1: being like like above the table, electronics, like when we're
Speaker 1: not talking about because there is an issue with people
Speaker 1: illegally exporting right right there. We'll get into that too. Uh.
Speaker 1: So that that scrap that we're exporting, that the United
Speaker 1: States is exporting. When I say we, I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the United States because that's again, once again we say
Speaker 1: this all the time. That's where that's where Lauren and
Speaker 1: I live. But the you know, obviously e waste is
Speaker 1: a global issue, it's not. In fact, that's it's a
Speaker 1: global issue mainly because the United States and countries like it,
Speaker 1: because developed countries have been exporting waste to developing countries
Speaker 1: and up. Yeah, it's it's a big mess. Although there
Speaker 1: are a lot of people working very hard to clean
Speaker 1: that mess up. So a hundred sixty different countries received
Speaker 1: this scrap material that we were exporting, and uh, when
Speaker 1: you get down to the actual electronic waste they're about.
Speaker 1: The United States process is about four million tons of
Speaker 1: electronic waste for recycling each year. That's uh, there're about
Speaker 1: six million tons in the United States that get sent
Speaker 1: out for recycling, but only four million of it are
Speaker 1: processed within the United States itself. So the rest of
Speaker 1: it has to go somewhere else because we just don't
Speaker 1: have the capacity to process more than that UH currently,
Speaker 1: although that could change as companies begin to explore the
Speaker 1: potential of recycling in the US. A part of the
Speaker 1: issue is also cost effectiveness UM. Until UM possibly today,
Speaker 1: it's been pretty hard for h companies to in the
Speaker 1: US to compete with recycling plants outside of the US,
Speaker 1: partially because a lot of recycling plants in developing countries
Speaker 1: aren't certified and UM aren't being responsible with their workers
Speaker 1: health or their waste management management practices. Essentially, what it
Speaker 1: comes down to is economics, right, you get you have
Speaker 1: an economic incentive to ship this stuff overseas because there
Speaker 1: are processing facilities and collectors who pay their employees very
Speaker 1: very very little. Because it's a different country and in
Speaker 1: that country the laws are completely different than they are
Speaker 1: in the United States and other developed countries, so it's
Speaker 1: cheaper to send it out rather then process it at home.
Speaker 1: And because you look at business decisions with that dollar
Speaker 1: sign in mind more often than not. Not to say
Speaker 1: that all companies do this, but but it's a general trend,
Speaker 1: especially if you're answering to shareholders, and shareholders are interesting
Speaker 1: getting a return on their investment. You're looking for the
Speaker 1: cheapest way to do the work possible, and that might
Speaker 1: involve sending stuff off to a company that doesn't pay
Speaker 1: its employees very well and doesn't really care about their
Speaker 1: health or safety. UM. And that's like Lauren alluded to,
Speaker 1: that might be changing big time in the United States.
Speaker 1: But we'll get to that. So s of all e
Speaker 1: waste collective for recycling comes from commercial businesses in the
Speaker 1: United States, only twenty five percent came from residential sources.
Speaker 1: And so the Institute actually identified that as an area
Speaker 1: of opportunity to increase collection and recycling programs within the
Speaker 1: United States to cater specifically for regular citizens, so that
Speaker 1: we would have an outlet that would be easy to access. UH.
Speaker 1: And there are multiple ways of going about that, whether
Speaker 1: it's some sort of government funded program or a completely
Speaker 1: privatized service. UH. That that was left up in the
Speaker 1: air that the program wasn't or the presentation wasn't about that.
Speaker 1: It was just saying, here's some opportunity. Also, eighty two
Speaker 1: point eight percent of all collected e waste in the
Speaker 1: United States was recycled, reused, or refurbished within the US,
Speaker 1: and then seventeen point two percent of the collected e waste.
Speaker 1: Keep in mind this is just the stuff that was
Speaker 1: collected for recycling. There is a lot of it that's
Speaker 1: just going to land. Yeah, but seventeen point two percent
Speaker 1: of that collected E waste by weight was exported to
Speaker 1: other countries. Now, if you look at all the e
Speaker 1: waste collected, twelve point one percent of it was exported
Speaker 1: as testing or working products, meaning that these are things
Speaker 1: that were still in working order that could be donated
Speaker 1: to other countries so that they yeah, so they could
Speaker 1: either be sold in that country or used in some
Speaker 1: sort of school program or whatever. Some of it was
Speaker 1: ready for repair or refurbishment, some of it was just
Speaker 1: in working order. But that remaining five point one percent
Speaker 1: of all of the electronic waste we collected ended up
Speaker 1: being exported without us really knowing what the final destination
Speaker 1: or purpose was, which is troublesome because, like we said,
Speaker 1: there are some of these companies out there that are
Speaker 1: behaving in ways that we would call unethical, you know,
Speaker 1: questionable things that where they're not treating uh, the workers
Speaker 1: very well, they aren't looking after people's health and safety.
Speaker 1: Um and when you're taught, I mean, you know, five
Speaker 1: percent sounds like like a small number until you're thinking
Speaker 1: about five of a few million tons, and it's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's a problem. And these are real people and
Speaker 1: real lives, you know. I mean human beings who have
Speaker 1: families and they have their own problems, and but one
Speaker 1: of those problems might be that they are dealing with
Speaker 1: material that could be very toxic in a dangerous way.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that later on as well. So with
Speaker 1: that five point one percent, they call it the sliver
Speaker 1: in in the presentation because when you're looking at it,
Speaker 1: if you look at it just from a percentage point
Speaker 1: of view, like you said, Lauren, you have this tendency
Speaker 1: to say, oh, it's just five percent. But they point
Speaker 1: out that sliver is incredibly important and you cannot ignore
Speaker 1: it because to do so is irresponsible. So and again,
Speaker 1: this is just the United States. There are other countries
Speaker 1: that also export electronic waste to developing nations. So it's
Speaker 1: it's a problem that goes beyond just the US. It's
Speaker 1: just that those are again the figures that are easiest
Speaker 1: for us to get because we happen to live here
Speaker 1: right right as as it turns out that the European
Speaker 1: Union is a little bit ahead of the the US
Speaker 1: and the entire game they have. They have passed the
Speaker 1: UM European Waste Shipment Regulation, which UM has adopted some
Speaker 1: of the statutes put out by multinational organizations for for better, better,
Speaker 1: more responsible, responsible treatments of these products. And uh what
Speaker 1: what actually happens to this recycling? The stuff that's being
Speaker 1: sent out to be turned into other stuff not just
Speaker 1: refurbished or repurposed of it is recycled into specification grade
Speaker 1: commodity scrap, which includes things like aluminum or a copper
Speaker 1: or scrap steel. Ten of it's resold as functioning equipment
Speaker 1: and components for direct resale. So only ten percent of
Speaker 1: all the stuff we send out is actually being used
Speaker 1: again in that respect. Uh an eighteen percent of it's
Speaker 1: resold as equipment and components for further repair and refurbishment.
Speaker 1: So that may mean that you're not just like like
Speaker 1: the computer you donate might have some stuff that they
Speaker 1: they salvage from the computer to use either to sell
Speaker 1: directly or to put into something else, and then other
Speaker 1: parts might just join that scrap. So the majority of
Speaker 1: it is going as just scrap. It's not not being
Speaker 1: reused or refurbished or anything like that, So why would
Speaker 1: you want to recycle in the first place. Well, part
Speaker 1: of it is that the idea of donating your electronics,
Speaker 1: anything that's in working order, then extends the lifespan of
Speaker 1: that device, which makes the device more valuable to people
Speaker 1: in general and also can can specifically help people in need.
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of different programs, um you know, cellphones
Speaker 1: for soldiers, or a lot of domestic abuse hotline kind
Speaker 1: of places will accept cell phones. Forum for for for
Speaker 1: victims to use to get help. The World Computer Exchange
Speaker 1: accepts computers for donation. It's one of the more reputable
Speaker 1: organizations there are. There are quite a few actually that
Speaker 1: have incredible reputations. They are known for being responsible and
Speaker 1: for accepting donations. It's important that you do research when
Speaker 1: you need to recycle or electronics, and we'll talk more
Speaker 1: about that in the second half too, but just a
Speaker 1: general note, if you are going to recycle anything, make
Speaker 1: sure that what whatever outlets you're looking at our responsible ones.
Speaker 1: So one sort of materials are getting recycled when we're
Speaker 1: recycling electronics. It's pretty much the same sort of stuff
Speaker 1: you would think of when you're sorting through your recycling.
Speaker 1: You know, if you have like a recycled bin or
Speaker 1: several bins that you have to sort through the same
Speaker 1: sort of stuff. In general, it's just they happen to
Speaker 1: be combined into products. And it's changing slightly, um as
Speaker 1: the phase of electronics change. I mean, if you're recycling
Speaker 1: your old CRT monitor, then that's going to be a
Speaker 1: different set of stuff, right, different components and say a
Speaker 1: flat screen digital display or plasma TV even because you know,
Speaker 1: when I think of recycling electronics, I'm always thinking of smartphones, tablets,
Speaker 1: and computers. But really we're talking televisions, we're talking microwaves,
Speaker 1: We're talking about anything that's a consumer electronic, right, you know,
Speaker 1: not just the the stuff that Jonathan thinks of his
Speaker 1: consumer electronics because he has a very narrow view of
Speaker 1: the world. Um So, really we're looking at glass, plastic,
Speaker 1: and metals being the chief components that go into this
Speaker 1: whole recycling uh. And I thought it might be fun
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about the outcome of that,
Speaker 1: like why why do we recycle these things? How efficient is?
Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense because there are people who say
Speaker 1: that at least some things that we recycle, it doesn't
Speaker 1: make a whole sense to recycle them, and that is
Speaker 1: that is partially true. We actually just did a two
Speaker 1: part series on recycling for Forward Thinking. Yeah, so if
Speaker 1: you guys are aren't listening to Forward Thinking, you should
Speaker 1: check that out and watch the video series two. It's
Speaker 1: I'm having a blast doing it and Lauren joins me
Speaker 1: and also the series writer Joe he's on that audio
Speaker 1: podcast too, and the three of us. Yeah, it's yes,
Speaker 1: there is an X. That is true. Uh, it's only
Speaker 1: for forward thinking. We do not have the AX for
Speaker 1: tech stuff. You don't get to see the AX, but
Speaker 1: you get to hear refer to it once in a
Speaker 1: rare while. But yeah, so so so so so glass.
Speaker 1: Yeah so glass. This is one of the trickiest ones,
Speaker 1: right because glass, If you were to recycle glass, you
Speaker 1: end up saving about thirty of the energy you would
Speaker 1: need to manufacture glass out of raw materials. So that
Speaker 1: means that you're expending seventy of the energy that you
Speaker 1: would require if you were just starting from scratch, right,
Speaker 1: So is not a huge amount of savings. And depending
Speaker 1: upon how the sorting facility does the sorting for glass,
Speaker 1: it can actually require more energy and time to sort
Speaker 1: through it starts to make the whole recycling process a
Speaker 1: bit questionable for certain communities. Not not the case everywhere.
Speaker 1: Some facilities have very sophisticated sorting equipment that make this
Speaker 1: go very easily. Others do not. So glass is one
Speaker 1: of those things that I recommend. If you can reuse
Speaker 1: the stuff, reuse it. Uh. If you cannot reuse it,
Speaker 1: recycle it. The other part about glass that makes it
Speaker 1: kind of uh, you know, it makes it the least
Speaker 1: wasteful in a way is that the raw material that
Speaker 1: we use to make glass is plentiful since it's mainly sand.
Speaker 1: So it's not like we're running on a shortage of sand.
Speaker 1: We haven't hit peak sand yet, right. No, No, I
Speaker 1: think that of all of all the elements that we
Speaker 1: are concerned about, um and not that sand is an element.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's all the elements in the sense of factors. Uh.
Speaker 1: And also glass is non toxic, so if it ends
Speaker 1: up in a landfill, at least you know it's not
Speaker 1: going to be I mean, assuming it's not lead glass,
Speaker 1: it's not going to be leaching toxins into the environment.
Speaker 1: We don't want glass to end up in landfill, so
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong there. I would much prefer that
Speaker 1: you reuse it if you can, or recycle it if
Speaker 1: you cannot. But keep in mind some recycling facilities end
Speaker 1: up sending a lot of glass landfills anyway. I mean
Speaker 1: it just I I keep on hoping for the improvement
Speaker 1: there so that we don't have to worry about that, uh,
Speaker 1: Because mainly what I'm looking at here is an energy
Speaker 1: saving model, because if you're saving energy, that means that
Speaker 1: you are also emitting fewer greenhouse gases. This is a huge,
Speaker 1: big picture thing. And also I mean also saving money,
Speaker 1: because what it really comes down to for you know, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: but this is the way the world works is is
Speaker 1: an economic factor of whether it is worth someone's time.
Speaker 1: Right right, then we have plastic, and plastic is actually
Speaker 1: a little more complicated, in fact, a lot more complicated,
Speaker 1: because there are a lot of different types of plastic
Speaker 1: and some are easier to recycle than others, like pet
Speaker 1: plastic or polyethylene tariff thallt plastic. Good job, Yeah, it
Speaker 1: only took two tries, you guys. I hope missed the
Speaker 1: first try, unless Noel is feeling vindictive, in which case
Speaker 1: he kept it in there Noel is noncommittal anyway. So
Speaker 1: pet plastic this is the stuff that you see in
Speaker 1: like clear bottles, like plastic bottles, soda bottles, water bottles,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing that tends to be pet plastic.
Speaker 1: And it's very easy for us to recycle that and
Speaker 1: if we if we do, we save eighty four percent
Speaker 1: of the energy we use in plastic production from raw
Speaker 1: materials and sevent of the greenhouse gas emissions, So eighty
Speaker 1: four percent less energy, fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Obviously, recycling
Speaker 1: this type of plastic makes sense from multiple perspectives. However, however,
Speaker 1: your electronics are not always made out of the same
Speaker 1: plastics that your soda bottles are. Yeah, so that that
Speaker 1: is an issue. That does mean that, you know, not
Speaker 1: all of the types of plastic are going to save
Speaker 1: that same amount of energy and greenhouse gases. And part
Speaker 1: of that is just that the amount of plastic we produce,
Speaker 1: a lot of it is that pet plastic. So that's
Speaker 1: where a lot of the work has been done in recycling.
Speaker 1: So it's one of those things that as we continue
Speaker 1: to use these other types of plastic, I expect we'll
Speaker 1: have more improved processes for dealing with it in a
Speaker 1: recycling uh perspective. But something else to keep in mind
Speaker 1: now when it comes to metals, Metals are one of
Speaker 1: those things that just makes perfect sense to recycle. Depending
Speaker 1: upon the metal, it can be a huge savings. So,
Speaker 1: for example, aluminium, you can save way more energy by
Speaker 1: recycling aluminum than you would if you were to try
Speaker 1: and produce aluminium by mining stuff and refining it and
Speaker 1: then and then using it in products. So it makes
Speaker 1: you save a lot of energy and fewer greenhouse gas
Speaker 1: emissions if you just recycle. Yeah, I don't have the
Speaker 1: number in front of me that I remember being like
Speaker 1: over yeah, it's it's I think you end up spending
Speaker 1: like six percent of the energy you would need to
Speaker 1: produce it from raw materials if you're looking at the
Speaker 1: big picture, everything from the mining operation to all the
Speaker 1: way down to finally getting whatever the product is. So
Speaker 1: aluminium makes tons of sense. Steel is also a very
Speaker 1: good candidate. It's not nearly as uh big savings on
Speaker 1: energy as aluminum is, but still good. And then there
Speaker 1: are a lot of precious metals that we tend to
Speaker 1: use in electronics, gold being one of the more popular ones.
Speaker 1: One of the more frequently found ones, but you can
Speaker 1: even find depending upon the device, you can even find
Speaker 1: stuff like platinum, which is pretty darn rare and extremely valuable.
Speaker 1: So you want to be able to reclaim as much
Speaker 1: of that as possible and not just toss it away.
Speaker 1: Plan them, by the way, not used in most common
Speaker 1: consumer electronics. It's it's actually that would be hit the
Speaker 1: price point of you know, not really for consumers. This
Speaker 1: would be for the rich people who want to have
Speaker 1: ridiculously luxurious items. Uh that's a little editorializing, but it's
Speaker 1: also true anyway. But you can also find other other
Speaker 1: metals like copper. Copper is one of those that is
Speaker 1: obviously really important in electronics. It's one of those conductors
Speaker 1: that we use over and over again, and so we
Speaker 1: want to reclaim as much of that as possible because
Speaker 1: there are reports that were hitting peak copper and that
Speaker 1: before long our copper that we're bringing in from mining
Speaker 1: operations is just going to start to drop, and that
Speaker 1: will affect the way the electronics market moves from that
Speaker 1: point forward. So these are the items that were really
Speaker 1: interested in when we're recycling, assuming that you're not just
Speaker 1: reusing that device refurbishing it so that you extend the life.
Speaker 1: These are the sort of things that we can pull
Speaker 1: out of these devices and then use again, either in
Speaker 1: future electronics or you know whatever. Like most glass ends
Speaker 1: up becoming containers. Plastic, same thing. Most plastic ends up
Speaker 1: becoming a container. Aluminum, same thing. Most aluminum tends to
Speaker 1: turn out to end up being aluminum cans. But it
Speaker 1: does mean that we don't have to spend the energy
Speaker 1: and time to get those raw materials, and also the
Speaker 1: environmental impact of getting those and those raw materials gets decreased.
Speaker 1: So it's a good idea. Um. Beyond that, there's some
Speaker 1: financial benefits or potential financial benefits, right, aren't there a
Speaker 1: bunch of tax programs in In effect, there are a
Speaker 1: lot of tax programs. It all depends on where you live.
Speaker 1: Obviously within the United States. If you are donating a
Speaker 1: device to a nonprofit organization and official recognized nonprofit organization,
Speaker 1: not like your aunt, right, you can get a right
Speaker 1: off on your taxes, but you have to come to
Speaker 1: an agreement with the nonprofit organization as to how much
Speaker 1: that particular device is valued. You know, you have to
Speaker 1: you have to figure out what the amount is for it,
Speaker 1: because if you're if you're donating a computer that's eight
Speaker 1: years old, it may be that there's negligible value there.
Speaker 1: A lot of these programs will make it pretty easy
Speaker 1: for you. Um most of them will will send you
Speaker 1: a free shipping label and and you know they want
Speaker 1: you to do this. They you know, for for both
Speaker 1: environment environmental reasons and for you know, maybe not profit
Speaker 1: if they're a nonprofit, but but it's it's worth money,
Speaker 1: right And in fact, if you if you'd rather not
Speaker 1: go the nonprofit route, I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you would rather sell your devices. Obviously, there are multiple
Speaker 1: ways of doing that. You could do that yourself. You
Speaker 1: could sell it on something like Craigslist or eBay. Uh,
Speaker 1: there are certain programs where if you didn't want to
Speaker 1: sell it, you just wanted to give it away, but
Speaker 1: you know, you just want to get away to someone
Speaker 1: within your community. There are a lot of different organizations
Speaker 1: that do that here in Atlanta. I know that there's
Speaker 1: a community called free Cycle, which I assume is operating
Speaker 1: in other communities as well. But on free Cycle, you
Speaker 1: would just go on and create a post very much
Speaker 1: like eBay or Craigslist and say here's what I have.
Speaker 1: I'm giving it away. The first person who wants it
Speaker 1: gets it. And uh, my wife loves that program. I
Speaker 1: have some interesting furniture because of it. And then there
Speaker 1: are things like Gazelle. Gazelle is just one of several
Speaker 1: different programs that will buy old electronics for you know,
Speaker 1: whatever the value is at that time. Keeping in mind,
Speaker 1: electronics depreciate just like any other product, and the electronics
Speaker 1: something yeah. Yeah, So so you're gonna get You're gonna
Speaker 1: get a fraction of what you paid for it. But
Speaker 1: it does mean that you get some money back which
Speaker 1: you can then use to, you know, finance your habit
Speaker 1: of buying new electronics. I mean is addictive. I I've
Speaker 1: gone through a smart watch, crazy, Lauren. I don't own
Speaker 1: one yet, but I've got like five of them on
Speaker 1: order now. I am not kidding. I ordered another one
Speaker 1: just the other day. So it's the Agent, the Pebble,
Speaker 1: the world's thinnest watch, which technically isn't a smart watch
Speaker 1: but is pretty cool. And then there was one more
Speaker 1: that I ordered just on indiego go or supported on
Speaker 1: indigog the other day. I've got a problem, Lauren, you
Speaker 1: I think I think that we need to take a
Speaker 1: moment and talk about this problem. And in the meanwhile,
Speaker 1: let us let us pause for a break, for a break, yeah,
Speaker 1: from our sponsor. We'll take a quick break to thank
Speaker 1: our sponsor. Alright, we're back. I'm out of risk because
Speaker 1: of all the smart watches, but we're also uh, we're
Speaker 1: actually running on a tight schedule today. There's a couple
Speaker 1: of guys who need to come into the podcast studio
Speaker 1: in a minute, right, I've never heard of some guys,
Speaker 1: but they're recording their episode next. So we want to
Speaker 1: talk quickly about some of the responsibilities and dangers associated
Speaker 1: with recycling. We we've alluded to them earlier, but we
Speaker 1: need to actually address them now. Uh yeah, um, so
Speaker 1: so interesting breaking news as of this morning, this morning
Speaker 1: being July, representatives of the U. S. Congress have have
Speaker 1: announced that they have a act that they're trying to
Speaker 1: pass called the Responsible Electronics Recycling Act a k arira um.
Speaker 1: This this would be an update of the Resource Conservation
Speaker 1: and Recovery Act, which was originally passed in the nineteen seventies,
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six to be precise. Um, and uh, it's
Speaker 1: it's updating it to to the basically just um prohibit
Speaker 1: the export of restricted electronic waste from the US two
Speaker 1: countries that are not members of responsible organizations that right
Speaker 1: that that that that regulate the way that these things
Speaker 1: are handled. And the reason for that is because electronics
Speaker 1: can have some pretty nasty stuff in them, like the
Speaker 1: plastics themselves can release lots of toxic materials as you
Speaker 1: process them. Processing in this case may involve doing things
Speaker 1: like not just shredding it up and incinerating it, which
Speaker 1: can release some terrible toxins. But even when done responsibly, exactly, yeah,
Speaker 1: you have to have you have to have capture systems
Speaker 1: to capture those gases that are given off, and ideally
Speaker 1: you're not incinerating stuff in the first place, but some
Speaker 1: of the stuff does get incinerated. Uh. But there's also
Speaker 1: a practice of dipping some of these things in acid
Speaker 1: baths to burn away everything other than the precious metals
Speaker 1: that you want to get at, and that can produce
Speaker 1: some terrible byproducts. The acids themselves are hazardous, then you
Speaker 1: get some byproducts that are dangerous. Some of the fumes
Speaker 1: that of off our toxic it can have health and
Speaker 1: environmental impact of the community. All around. Even if you
Speaker 1: aren't directly exposed to it on a day to day
Speaker 1: basis as part of your job, it can impact your community.
Speaker 1: And in fact, there are areas in China that are
Speaker 1: known for being these toxic communities that are just filled
Speaker 1: with lots of of well, lots of toxic chemicals and
Speaker 1: as a result, people have suffered some pretty serious health
Speaker 1: hazards health issues because of this. So that's why this
Speaker 1: act was proposed in the United States was to try
Speaker 1: and make sure that we create a responsible conduit for
Speaker 1: recycling so that we minimize the environmental and health impact
Speaker 1: that can happen as a result of coming into contact
Speaker 1: with the stuff. And you might think, well, what kind
Speaker 1: of stuff besides plastic are in electronics? All about mercury?
Speaker 1: That's pretty toxic stuff, fairly toxic, especially if you're if
Speaker 1: you're just playing with it. Um lead, Yeah, yeah, these
Speaker 1: are things that can cause neurological issues. Both mercury and
Speaker 1: lead can cause neurologic cold problems, including things like blindness,
Speaker 1: cognitive issues, and prolonged exposure can lead to to deadly poisoning.
Speaker 1: It can be fatal. You have stuff like cadmium, which
Speaker 1: can damage lungs and kidneys and cause environmental damage if
Speaker 1: that leaches into the ground if you were just to
Speaker 1: put in a landfill and sulfur sulf Sulfuric acid is
Speaker 1: one of the two elements along with lead that um
Speaker 1: again components not elements, apologies UM that that makes up
Speaker 1: every all of the batteries that you use, all the
Speaker 1: double A batteries, batteries that you're using there there are
Speaker 1: lots of batteries that have sulfur in them and that
Speaker 1: can lead to sulfuric acid that can cause damage to kidneys, eyes, liver,
Speaker 1: and heart so uh and and you know the methods
Speaker 1: of recycling, like if you're actually recycling this stuff, you
Speaker 1: tend to be grinding it up into tiny little bits,
Speaker 1: especially for the plastic uh. So that can if you're
Speaker 1: incinerating any of that, that can cause problems. Obviously you
Speaker 1: can be dipping them in the acids like I said before,
Speaker 1: or that's a problem. So it's you know, you want
Speaker 1: to make sure that this stuff is going to a
Speaker 1: responsible entity that is going to take care of this
Speaker 1: material and make sure one that it's doing its best
Speaker 1: to maintain the health and safety uh. Concerns of all
Speaker 1: of the employees and to just making sure that that
Speaker 1: material is actually getting recycled and not just dumped somewhere,
Speaker 1: not just taking your money. Uh, because some of these
Speaker 1: centers are operating on contracts that are working with big
Speaker 1: companies or whatever, not just taking the money and then
Speaker 1: just dumping the stuff, but actually doing what they're supposed
Speaker 1: to be doing. So part of that process meant that
Speaker 1: there needed to be some sort of certification. There's some
Speaker 1: sort of third party certification that would guarantee that people
Speaker 1: were being responsible and accountable. And there are a couple
Speaker 1: of different programs in the United States that have come
Speaker 1: up because of that. E Stewards is one of them.
Speaker 1: That's one I see all the time is the if
Speaker 1: it as the Eastwards certification on it, That means it's
Speaker 1: been inspected and certified by a third party entity and
Speaker 1: that it is behaving in a responsible manner when it
Speaker 1: comes to recycling your products. So if you are thinking
Speaker 1: about recycling stuff, do your research, look into what is
Speaker 1: available in your area and see if it is in
Speaker 1: fact certified. Right d e p A actually has a
Speaker 1: like an interactive map up on their website that that
Speaker 1: breaks down a lot of local places that have been
Speaker 1: independently certified right. Another one is the responsible Recycling practices
Speaker 1: that's called r TOO. No notice there about what happened
Speaker 1: to d too. But are two is there? Um? And
Speaker 1: also a lot of manufacturers have their own recycling programs,
Speaker 1: so you can look into the manufacturer that produced whatever
Speaker 1: the product is and see if they have a recommendation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because there may be a program where you just send
Speaker 1: it right back to the company and then they will
Speaker 1: deal with it, or or even one of the places
Speaker 1: that you have purchased your electronics from might have a
Speaker 1: similar program like I I know that Staples and Best
Speaker 1: Buy do write stuff like that. One thing that we
Speaker 1: need to bring up to your attention is what do
Speaker 1: you do with all that data that's on those devices?
Speaker 1: Because you don't want to just toss your stuff that
Speaker 1: has all your personal information on it or other information.
Speaker 1: Britain researchers in Britain rent a program where they bought
Speaker 1: up three hundred used computers from various sources from various
Speaker 1: countries and then they wanted to see what kind of
Speaker 1: data they could find on them, and then about a
Speaker 1: hundred of them, so a third of the computers they bought.
Speaker 1: They found sensitive information, not just personal info like social
Speaker 1: security numbers, although they did find that they on one
Speaker 1: of them, they found a test launch information on ground
Speaker 1: to air defense missiles. Yeah, not something you necessarily want
Speaker 1: to get out. There also medical records, so very sensitive stuff.
Speaker 1: This was from hospitals that had not properly disposed of
Speaker 1: the data. So if you want to donate some device
Speaker 1: that has your data on it, you have a couple
Speaker 1: of different options. I mean, of course, you could encrypt
Speaker 1: all that data. That will at least make it very
Speaker 1: difficult to access, and probably whoever gets hold of it
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily want to act us it anyway. They want
Speaker 1: to use the device. Right. But but but just reformatting
Speaker 1: your drive is not good enough because you have to
Speaker 1: reformat and overwrite that data to make it less accessible.
Speaker 1: Even then it's still potentially accessible. But there are a
Speaker 1: lot of programs out there that will overwrite your data
Speaker 1: with just nonsense, just junk zeros and ones essentially to
Speaker 1: uh obvious skate what was there and to to try
Speaker 1: and destroy it. Really, the only way to destroy it
Speaker 1: is to physically destroy the drive, take it out and
Speaker 1: just smash it up into tiny little pieces, but one
Speaker 1: that's dangerous to that's probably excessive. So following these other
Speaker 1: methods is most likely to work. So but but you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's to be to be absolutely safe, you might
Speaker 1: hang on to the hard drive. Um, definitely take a
Speaker 1: SIM card out of any mobile device, right. Um. But
Speaker 1: but basically, yes, wiping and encrypting definitely an important thing
Speaker 1: to do. I mean, I've told this story before I
Speaker 1: bought my Xbox three sixty used and the gamer information
Speaker 1: was still on there. The gamer who had owned the
Speaker 1: box before me had not wiped his or her data
Speaker 1: from the console. Now, I did do that, that was
Speaker 1: the first thing I did when I got it, But
Speaker 1: it was one of those things that's just a reminder,
Speaker 1: you know, even for someone had been less honest than Jonathan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which you know, hard to do. I'm a pretty big liar. Yeah. Anyway,
Speaker 1: So guys, that's kind of our episode. I know that
Speaker 1: it was a quick second half, but I can see
Speaker 1: Josh and Chuck just outside the podcast room, and Josh
Speaker 1: has got a bat and he's looking at me and
Speaker 1: slowly shaking his head. So I'm taking that as a
Speaker 1: cue that we should wrap up here. Keep in mind.
Speaker 1: Recycling is good. We're totally in favor of it. Just
Speaker 1: do it responsibly, both for the environment, for people's health,
Speaker 1: and for your own personal data safety. All of these
Speaker 1: things are important. And uh, hey, I'm not gonna tell
Speaker 1: you not to buy another smart watch because I just
Speaker 1: saw one online that I want. Anyway, guys, you enjoyed
Speaker 1: this episode, you have any comments, you have something you
Speaker 1: want to share about it, or you have suggestions for
Speaker 1: future topics, Get in touch with us. Let us know.
Speaker 1: Our address is tech stuff at Discovery dot com, or
Speaker 1: find us on Facebook or Twitter or handle of both
Speaker 1: of those is tech Stuff hs W and Lauren and
Speaker 1: I will talk to you again really soon for more
Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Does it has
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com