How can you get the new聽iPhone聽without throwing out your old one? How can you upgrade to the newest processor without getting rid of your old one? All of these inevitable upgrades raise a more disturbing question. Where do all of our 鈥渙utdated鈥� electronics end up?
E-Waste: A Looming Threat
Everyone鈥檚 favorite sci-fi spoof, the canceled-multiple-times show聽Futurama, lampooned real-life trash problems with their 鈥渢rash ball鈥� flung into space. They end up jettisoning a聽second聽trash ball into the first giant sphere of garbage.
The resulting impact sends the first one straight into the sun. Don鈥檛 think about that second trash ball. But these orphan refuse colonies are very real鈥揺specially when it comes to electronic waste.
While some outdated electronics are聽disposed of in environmentally friendly ways, others become e-waste. Not-so-fun fact: there鈥檚 a place in聽Ghana聽nicknamed 鈥淪odom and Gomorrah鈥� because of the amount of聽e-waste there. Due to strict electronic refuse laws in both the聽U.S.聽and聽Europe, some 鈥渞ecyclers鈥� may ship them to countries with laxer laws. Thus, you end up with 鈥渆-wastelands鈥�.
So who is doing something to fix this before we need to jettison our own e-trash ball? Some countries (and specifically entrepreneurs) are developing circular economies, turning consumerism into e-waste recycling.
Collaboration to Dam Digital Debris
One candidate combating e-waste is an unlikely source: the country of聽India. Though they had to compete with local scrappers, a few entrepreneurs in India didn鈥檛 see a monument to consumerism.聽Karma Recycling聽saw an opportunity to recycle e-waste into usable cellphone devices.
Co-director and co-founder聽Akshat Ghiya聽told聽Forbes: 聽鈥淓lectronics are so common in our lives, but we鈥檙e disposing of everything so quickly. Phones are supposed to last five to six years, but we鈥檙e switching them every year, it鈥檚 all status symbol.
In an effort to bring sustainability and fewer e-waste related dangers like toxic fumes, Karma Recycling instituted an e-portal. Retail partners or individuals can sell their old phones to Karma for cash back.
Karma then wipes the device, performs a product backup and refurbish process, then repackages and resells the old product. Buyers even get a new warranty from Karma Recycling.
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