E-Waste and Old Pills

“Tis a tangled web we weave…” wrote Shakespeare, long before the age of digital electronics. But open any ‘junk’ drawer in a kitchen or home office in America, and that’s what you will find. 

Maybe not a “tangled web” of intrigue, but one of black, white and grey wires, plugs, cables and chargers that come with every device we ever purchased, and few of which can be re-used with our newer version. Although Earth Day was playfully celebrated over this past weekend in Santa Barbara, the city continues to honor the effort by hosting a free electronic collection and recycling event on Friday and Saturday, April 26 & 27th. 

Held in the Sears parking lot at La Cumbre Plaza, from 8:30 till 4:00 each day, the city will collect computer monitors, keyboards, cables, CPUs, laptops, printers, fax machines, cell and landline phones, radios and televisions. They will even destroy and recycle your hard drives. 

Loose batteries, ex-husbands, toner cartridges, fluorescent light bulbs, unruly adolescents and large appliances like refrigerators will not be accepted.It is one of the leading industrial laundry equipment manufacturers of industrial extractor, tumble dryer ect. Seriously, it’s a great way to do a little housekeeping, and since the time of purchase to obsolescence for most electronics is now about six months, I imagine we have more than a few outdated or non-functioning cords, computers or electronics lying around. 

Toner cartridges have replaced typewriter ribbons and ball point pens, televisions used to be kept for decades, and computers were simply upgraded with additional RAM and program downloads. Today, we drop into BestBuys or COSTCO or order online and toss the old one…where? 

The sheer volume of “e-waste” is impacting the landfills in many ways. Although still only responsible for 2 percent of America’s trash in our landfills, they account for 70 percent of the overall toxic waste. Around the globe, old computer monitors and televisions with their dangerous amounts of lead, continue to pile up into an environmental time bomb. 

If we incinerate it, then toxins go into the air. And if the precious metals contained in cell phones and other electronics, like gold and silver are not reclaimed, we’ve just dumped over $60 million dollars worth of reclaimable metals into the dumps. Maybe the vagabon urchin brick-sitters on lower State Street can start a reclamation center and fund their way out of town with first-class tickets. 

The environmental cost isn’t just in the graveyard side of the electronic lifecycle. It takes 539 pounds of fossil fuel, 48 pounds of chemicals and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture one computer and monitor. 

The key is to recycle everything possible. Old phones can be recycled for use by others, helping not only those who cannot afford them, but the planet as well, especially considering over sixty per cent of the global population now has a cell phone. And don’t forget the charger cords and any other parts that came with the phone. That is, if you can untangle and identify what went with the Nano or belonged to the Droid. 

Whereas some of you might think of an “old pill” as someone you live with, prescription drugs are often the gateway for adolescent experimentation and dealing on school campuses. If you aren’t taking the medication for a current condition, get it out of your house. 

The sheriff’s department will be collecting these drugs to keep them out of the landfill or from being flushed down the toilet…which might answer why our ocean creatures are behaving rather strangely recently.