Week 4 Writing Assignment

Dear Professor Brooks,

I'd like to think that I have a little more experience when it comes to recycling than most people. When I was young, my mom would make me sort the recycling on garbage day. It was a messy job. I also worked for USF Recycles for nearly three years. Thanks to us, the department was ranked fifth in recycling in all of San Francisco, although I'm not sure if that meant county or city. If that isn't enough, my Dad owned and operated American Iron, which, according to their website, is the "Upper Midwest's Leading Metals Recycler." Needless to say, recycling is in my blood.

What happens when someone from America sends his old computer to the local recycling plant? Apparently it ends up in junkyard in a third world country, where poor inhabitants pick through the rubble in order to salvage what little valuable pieces they can in order to earn a living. The process of extracting the material is quite dangerous, and with no real regulations to speak of, the workers don't appear to wear much safety equipment. In addition, the hazardous materials embedded within machine can dissolve into the air or drinking water of the local inhabitants, causing illness. Now, does this happen with every computer that goes to a US recycling plant? No, but due to America's ever increasing consumption of technology, it happens quite often.

The amount of electronics purchased in America is staggering, due to the rate at which technology advances. A computer is deemed obsolete a mere two or three years after it is released. Don't even get me started on iPods. This leads to tons of electronics being donated, recycled, or just thrown out. However, because this influx of technology is fairly recent, the government hasn't had time to catch up with the rest of the country. There currently is no firm federal law concerning e-waste recycling, which is why it's so easy for a plant to just ship their junk off to a third world country. The US government, as well as American consumers, should take this issue into consideration.

Thanks to my mom, I am a pack rat (I believe that is the proper term). I rarely donate or throw anything out. Instead, I just let it sit in storage somewhere. I'm sure I still have clothes from middle school at my house. Off the top of my head, I've gone through four cell phones. The three old ones are in their respective boxes, collecting dust at my house. I got my first computer, an iMac, at the age of fifteen. It lasted me all the way through high school. Currently, it is also collecting dust at my house. Okay, you get the point I'm sure. It's not that I don't want to recycle these things, I'm just a lazy person. Also, the idea of someone using my old computer creeps me out. Do you know how much internet porn I saved on that thing? Tons. In my defense, my technology purchasing habits are pretty limited. I don't go out and buy the latest gadget just to be at the head of the techno front. Only when a respective machine breaks do I really go out and buy a new one.

Now, my solution for this e-waste problem is this:

1. Gather up all of the world's e-waste
2. Pack it all into space shuttles (this might require a lot of space shuttles)
3. Send the space shuttles to the sun where they will incinerate

This can also double as a solution to the world's garbage problem. It might seem far fetched, but surely this is what the robots will do with all of the dead human bodies once they take over the planet and enslave humanity.

Love,
James