The document discusses how the rise of Apple products like the iPhone and the fall of Blackberry phones from RIM have both contributed to an increase in electronic waste (e-waste) in landfills. E-waste produces hazardous chemicals from components that can leak into the environment. While selling used phones on eBay is tempting, taking old electronics to e-recycling centers is better for the environment since they dispose of unusable parts carefully according to green standards and refurbish devices for resale.

1. Apples and Berrys: The Precursors to the
Sudden E-Waste Surge
Source: TechnoGoBlog
http://technogoblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/apples-and-berrys-the-precursors-to-
the-sudden-e-waste-surge/

2. Last month’s BlackBerry World 2012 convention gave me renewed hope for
Research In Motion to finally pick itself up, dust itself off, and get back in the
smartphone game. They gave a rather satisfactory presentation of the
BlackBerry 10, which they are touting as their saving grace from their nearing
demise. RIM CEO, Thorsten Heins reiterates again and again how the company
has spent buckets of blood, sweat and tears to ensure that the BB 10 gets to do
just that. And the mobile OS certainly showed all the hard work invested in it,
putting RIM back into fighting form, and making all the consumers who were
ready to sell used BlackBerrys do a double take.
At least, that was until Apple unveiled their iOS 6 at the recently concluded
World Wide Developers Convention (WWDC) 2012. Their product showed that
portable gadget functionality can indeed go beyond the physical limitations of
the gadgets, if the demos for the Maps app and the new and improved Siri are
anything to go by. The iOS 6 leaves no room for doubt that the future promised
by countless movies and TV shows is getting closer and closer, consequently
leaving competitors (RIM among them) in the dust. If there was ever any reason
to trade BlackBerry for iPhone, this is it.
There is, however, another aftereffect brought about by both Apple’s impressive
increase in sales and RIM’s increasingly spectacular fall: The accumulation of
electronic waste in landfills.
Electronic waste (or e-waste), while seemingly no different from other types of
pollution, is actually more dangerous to human health and the environment
than most people think. This is because aside from the amassing of discarded
plastics and silicon (both already notoriously difficult to recycle in their own
right), e-waste also produces bio-hazardous chemicals like lead, cadmium, and
beryllium which can leak from batteries, capacitors, and other electronic
components. It is this two-pronged attack (both solid and chemical wastes) on
the environment that has given the government more than enough cause for
concern to develop a specific countermeasure to the problem.
That solution is e-recycling. E-recycling has three major elements to it that give it
its designated status. The first element is that it fully refurbishes old and used
gadgets to make them as good as new. The second is that, being essentially
second hand, these gadgets are sold at significantly lower price points. This
element goes hand in hand with the first in that they make e-recycled devices
those much more attractive to budget-conscious buyers. Finally, the third and
most important element is that the disposing of unusable parts is handled with
the utmost care and concern for the environment, doing away with these parts
under strictest compliance to green standards. These three elements combined
Source: TechnoGoBlog
http://technogoblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/apples-and-berrys-the-precursors-to-
the-sudden-e-waste-surge/

3. ensure that the threat of e-waste is impeded for as long as possible, until a
better solution can one day be formulated.
Being the easier option, I know how tempting it is to just log in on eBay and sell
old BlackBerrys there. However, for all our sakes, why don’t you just head on
over to the nearest e-recycling center and sell your gadget there? You’ll be
glad you did.
Posted by Megan Cunninghamin Recycling
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Source: TechnoGoBlog
http://technogoblog.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/apples-and-berrys-the-precursors-to-
the-sudden-e-waste-surge/