Life without gadgets is unthinkable, so much so that mobile phones feel like a part of one’s body. One goes in frenzy if the gadget is misplaced, as if some body part was amputated. But this is just a myopic view of living things and their psychological disorders.
The insecurity and desperation to catch up with the technological race has resulted in accumulation of tons of e-waste, 40 million tons(UNEP) to be specific! Majority of illegal e-waste ends up in landfills, incinerators, and in ill-equipped recycling facilities in developing countries. “The waste is dumped in areas where local residents and workers disassemble the units and collect whatever is of value… What is not reusable is simply dumped as waste, creating immense problems and leading to what has been described as a ‘toxic time bomb’.”
If this didn’t scare you enough, “Failure to recycle e-waste is also leading to shortages of rare earth minerals to make future generations of electronic equipment,” Central Pollution Control Board of India.
Yes the desire or greed maybe, of living things for the e-things, is not only eating up precious natural resources but further creating havoc to the existing natural environment.
Be conscious in buying and more importantly in disposing off your E-things. Respect the circle of life.
The White Light 