Apollo Gonzales's Blog
On Leaving My Wallet At Home
November 20, 2007
Posted by Apollo Gonzales
I am a geek of the worst kind. I am an electronics gadget geek. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a lover of many other geeky things, like comics and video games, but nothing else comes close to my obsession with gadgets. Now I may not be able to afford an iPhone or latest Garmin GPS, but my lack of funds doesn’t stop me from knowing everything there is to know about those two items. If the opportunity to get one at a sweet price should present itself, I will be prepared. This obsession is evidenced by my possession of not one, but four Polar heart rate monitors. I use one of them, and only very, very rarely. I got such amazing prices on them (a savings of over 80%, amazing right?) I could not walk away. I have memory sticks, cell phones, mp3 players, mp3 player accessories, cameras, computer speakers, laptops, enough cords to make a rug, power tools, and I’m not even going to get into the cycling and camping gear because this could go on all day.
When these items become obsolete, I usually box them up and put them away. Every once in a while the stash gets to be too much and I have to get rid of a few items. Recently I disposed of a Sprint cell phone from 1999. That my friends, is not a joke. When the time comes though, I always find myself searching for a way to recycle the product, and when I can’t figure it out I take it to Goodwill. No one will ever buy these items from Goodwill, and deep down I know those items are going to end up in a dumpster. As AP writer Terence Chea pointed out this week in a story highlighting the problem of "e-waste", those items are going to end up in China. My old printer, the one that worked fine, but was an eyesore, is now somehwere in China polluting a river.
This coming Friday is Black Friday. It is a electronic gadget geeks Christmas. The savings are so obscene that an entire world of Black Friday websites have popped up across the internet. Less than $500 for a 32” HD LCD television? Are you kidding me? Break out the lawn chair and sleeping bag, I’m getting in line today! But why? My television works fine. And so does my first generation iPod mini. And my year old Motorola Razor. And yes, even my Polar hear rate monitor.
So this coming Friday, I’ll be joining the growing movement behind Buy Nothing Day. I’m not going to explain Buy Nothing Day, because it is exactly what the name implies. This year marks the 10th year that BND has been positioned on the same day as Black Friday. After finding out that we are sending about 300,000 tons of our unwanted electronics to China every year, I can’t imagine waiting another year to get behind the cause. No matter how badly I want an iPod touch.
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Comments
Rob Perks — Nov 21 2007 07:54 AM
Nice post, Apollo. Turns out I've been unknowingly honoring Buy Nothing Day for years due to the fact that there's no way in hell I'm willing to run the shopping mall gauntlet on Black Friday. The highlight of the day after Thanksgiving for me is when Karen and I dine at our favorite hometown Mexican restaurant. We have a hearty non-turkey dish and my favorite Mexican beer. Viva Tacate Day!
Ari Kahn — Nov 21 2007 10:02 AM
Hi Apollo,
I share your computer and sporting good addictions so forsaking that awesome new water purifier will be hard, but I shall do my best!
Still, one day will not keep you from accumulating stuff, and if you do end up with a used computer TV or other piece of electronics, you should know that there are some things you can do now, and there are also solutions NRDC is working on as well.
What to do now? The producer of your old product may take it back no questions asked—- Dell and HP do and I believe Sony will soon. If you’re buying a new computer, manufacturers like Apple will take your old computer, regardless of make or model. You can also return products to Staples for a fee, or contact a local recycler, preferably one that has signed this good practices pledge:
http://ban.org/pledge/Locations.html#5rprocessors
Meanwhile, NRDC, along with many other groups, is working to pass legislation that requires manufacturers to recycle their products at end of life. This will encourage less toxic design (because less toxic products are more recyclable). We also support strict reporting requirements to make sure manufacturers do the right thing and export controls on the national level. 8 states already have e-waste legislation, and we are hoping several more will soon follow suit.
So in short, help is on the way. Don’t despair.
Cheers,
Ari