The electronics industry was about the last on the planet to wake up to reducing energy consumption, and now electronic waste is a growing scourge. Discarded TVs and computers are going to landfills faster than any other kind of waste, and one of the few GROWING categories. All driven by technology innovation, planned obsolescence and a consumer culture of gotta-have-the-gadget. The energy trade-offs are the same conundrum as buying a Prius: you never catch up with gasoline savings to the environmental cost of manufacturing the car itself.
So any and all suggestions for what to do with this stuff are welcome. We can’t all wear CD necklaces or use CPUs as end tables!
Great Treehugger article on the problem: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/america-recycles-day-value–proper-e-waste-recycling.php?dtc=th_rss
