The dark side of electronic waste recycling

[@VergeScience]

Do you recycle your electronic waste?

[@elzers6209]

Yes, i fix computers, tvs, phones and other things in Chile. That's why i'm studying a technician in electronics

[@thecoolboy86gaming82]

No i sell em

[@h00b00]

I try to use it as long as I can (Typed on a phone from 2016)

[@yengsabio5315]

I donate my used electronics to an organization that properly process them.

[@shawbros]

I drop my electronics off at a nearby Household Hazardous Waste. They have different areas there for Cardboard/paper, fluorescent bulbs, electronics, rechargeable batteries, paint, auto fluids, etc.

[@ultramewmewfan]

I use my phone and electronics until they are completely unusable. It's harder to reprogram and update a phone's software than it is to buy a new one but honestly I prefer it. I get attached to my devices and I refuse to give it up without a very good reason. There is a culture of fast consumption of goods that needs to be addressed on all levels; from fashion to electronics. Get attached to your things, buy only if you have to and treat it with respect.

[@592sunrise]

Used it pass its value..until its nonfunctional...

[@ultramewmewfan]

@@592sunrise with care and consideration, devices can last for years.

[@revenevan11]

Agreed. Then I often buy refurbished for my "new" device. I also enjoy the feeling of making something from very little or basic resources, or from junk/scraps, so I enjoy salvaging parts from old desktops and the like in order to piece together a working one!

[@ultramewmewfan]

@@revenevan11 while I'm not good at building, I'm good at customising the software for needs and it's a very fulfilling way to care for your items

[@jeinnerabdel]

I agree on half of what you said, not because I don't believe you, but because I'm reading only half as my screen is cracked but functional so I keep using my phone instead of getting a new one!

[@Sirenhound]

And I would have gotten away with it too If it wasn't for you meddling non-profits!

[@shanhussain6114]

Worst Scooby Doo episode ever!!!

[@shanhussain6114]

@@Lamster66 Like man, this recycling factory gives me the heeby-jeebies!!!

[@shanhussain6114]

@@Lamster66 also, the gang was really bad at planning their road trips weren't they? How often did they run out of gas and were totally lost? 😂🤣

[@navb0tactual]

@@shanhussain6114 They should've stopped using regular plot fuel and go premium

[@joemedlen2924]

And your no good mangy trackers!

[@mukkaar]

Shipping this stuff off is just moving the problem. If there was much more development and focus on recycling, it might even become very profitable industry. This needs to apply at every level of industry so this idea is part of the design and manufacturing.

[@franciscos.2301]

The problem is it isn't profitable and doesn't look like it will be anytime in the near future, hence why it's rapidly becoming such an absurdly gigantic problem. I don't know what the solution is, but I can agree it definitely isn't to just ship it somewhere else...

[@FixItStupid]

JUST LIKE NUCLEAR

[@Yous0147]

Another way to recycle is to sell or gift out used but usable stuff. F.ex. Instead of throwing out your old console, your old phone or your old desktop, try and see if you can find someone who will take it off of your hands, for money or otherwise. Heck if you're throwing it out, a simple add saying "free phone" would easily pass it over

[@torf08]

@@franciscos.2301 Did you watch the whole video? The federal prosecutor at the very end (@9:28) states that the owners of Total Reclaim took home almost $8 million each over the course of time that they were committing fraud (7 years according to a Seattle Times article). If they had properly recycled the components it would have cost approximately $2.5 million total and each would have still made $6.5 million each. $6.5 million over 7 years is ~$930,000 a year. Seems plenty profitable to me.

[@juanguzman8034]

It is profitable, I work for a Chinese company doing refurbishment of computers take in for free and sell it and ship the warehouse rent was tax deductible making it essentially free and mostly profits. The refuse was ship to China where they had a manufacturing plant they were able to melt the plastics and reuse it.

[@CoryRayGordonMusic]

Been a scrapper for a little over a year, I must have saved 15 desktop PC's, laptops and tvs from landfills. Most of the PC's work and usually have tonnes of music on them.

[@KentHamson]

I just spent the last week trying to repair 3 computers. One has a bad power supply and it is a Dell server that needs a specific replacement. The other freezes during OS splash screen. I can't even load anything from the CD rom before it freezes. The other the mobo is just bad and won't power on. I stripped everything else I could use out of them and taking them to be recycled... somewhere... where? They never told me how to find a responsible recycling company.

[@seanhartnett79]

Interesting, I want to try that.

[@RedFlyingFox007]

Not just Asia, but Africa also gets a ton of the western ewaste

[@albaniaalban]

@Northman Unlike you, then?

[@MrDylsha]

Not just Western, I'm sure you get Asian and other wastes. More people live in Africa and Asia and hence more e-waste will come from there. This isn't just a "western" problem, it's a global problem.

[@juliankoenraad4066]

Not just E-Waste, my country gets a ton of plastic waste too, shipped from North America and Europe

[@mandeepsingh-px3xq]

How else do the yanks pretend to be clean and blame Asia for pollution?

[@vinniechan]

@Northman there is a quite decent amount of precious and rare earth material to be salvaged Unfortunately what u get out off doesn't pay for the recycling

[@jonathanwestcott6594]

The burning question in my mind now is, why is there so much e-waste? why do we let companies get away with purposefully outdating or sabotaging their own equipment for sales? (I'm talking iPhones and other smartphones, printers and more importantly ink cartridges, etc?) we're continuously making cheaper quality products for more profit and creating a bigger problem for someone else to take care of. I understand regular wear and tear, but when you take special care of something only for a "software update" or incompatibility to make it useless after 2 years...

[@harryroxas6996]

It’s because of our selfishness

[@phiksit]

Lobbyists and politicians ensure the costs (negative impacts) of doing business get past on to the rest of us, while the profits go to the big wigs, shareholders and donors who in turn pay off the lobbyist and politician. Wash, rinse, repeat. Tires get a recycling fee tacked on when you purchase them and when they are used up you have to pay a disposal /recycling fee... and 80% of the time they are just burned.

[@thefirstsin]

They always get away with it like ex: our new apple product is better ppl buy then toss, Oof they just wouldn't stop monopolizing everything.

[@thefirstsin]

@rager trolling korea음경 not in everyone but many many ppl and companies.

[@abiez4018]

its not only the companies That cuased the E-waste but everbody caused that

[@DansaSemesta]

So WALL-E really predicted future.

[@mysticaldevotion863]

guess from where the idea of wall-e came....

[@joacquinperez5593]

skankhunt 42 the future '-'

[@summergram]

wow I was just going to say the same, the heaps of e-wadte remimded me of the opening scene!

[@choutarokujo7686]

@skankhunt 42 are you Kyle's dad, the jew?

[@ryno4ever433]

@skankhunt 42 It came from the present. The plot of Wall-e was based off of the way we manage our waste.

[@KDHRproductions]

“But the US never ratified it” oh wow what else is new? 🙄

[@saltysoysauce954]

@Celtic Revival / Adfywiad Celtaidd thanks obama 🙄

[@ohHeyKev]

Not this comment...

[@Jake-rc4ws]

Oh, put it on your blog!

[@Lonech]

Celtic Revival / Adfywiad Celtaidd Why hasnt trump hmm wtf no stfu this is a bipartisan problem

[@pupstermobster8567]

@Celtic Revival / Adfywiad Celtaidd here we go again... Why didn't any president? Why didn't any president do anything for anyone? In the end, we continue to use plastic grocery bags, and one time use water bottles, and the list goes on and on.

[@EvDelen]

"It would have cost about $2.5 million for them to do this properly. So perhaps instead of each of them making $8 million, they would have made $6.5 million each." A story of unbridled greed, sadly repeated so often.

[@alexanderx3554]

Except that math just doesn't make sense.

[@softpiglet]

5.5 million is still a baffling amount of money. The guy in the video goofed on his math but the point is still valid

[@alexanderx3554]

On one had it is greed, another it's opportunity albeit hazardous and perhaps it opens the door to regulations without stiffling business.

[@bobroberts2371]

If this is so profitable, why isn't BAN starting their own recycling company?

[@sinfulyetsaved]

The fact is its not as profitable as many think especially if ur just a collector.. About 80% of ewaste has no to little recycle value.. It cost more to break the material down that what u can retrieve from it.

[@GameControlYT]

Keep on making items that have planned obsolescence and increase waste

[@vinaybhat7670]

just like Apple. 🍎

[@vasu6494]

*Bitcoin mining has left the chat*

[@bradreed2001]

Upgrades people upgrades

[@bradreed2001]

What if we had upgradable tech rather than throwing away the whole thing 🤔

[@uttiya10]

@@vinaybhat7670 more like Samsung. At least apple provides more than 2 years of software updates

[@villevapa194]

Mercury in its poisonous elemental form is only found in LCDs backlit with fluorescent lightbulbs. LED backlit LCDs don't have the problem with mercury. Still better to get rid of the waste in proper ways.

[@villevapa194]

@@sphericalred That is true.

[@davecrupel2817]

It absolutely breaks my heart to see electronics, the finest mastery of technology we have so far produced, mistreated and discarded so easily, like a piece of rotten food. I dont recycle mine lightly.

[@michealbay1290]

But think of the shareholders 😭

[@kornbread5359]

I agree. I fix old phones and donate their computing power to science aka BOINC/dreamlab

[@macforme]

There is you on one hand ....and on the other are electronic companies that force feed the gullible a new model of TV, computer, phone every 15 months... Or less. Some people can't feed their family properly or pay other bills on time... but they have to have the latest phone or ...what will their friends think!!!!

[@Lunar_Capital]

I use to fix and part out stuff and if it was truly worthless I would smash them then send them out for proper recycling. It was amazing what I would find on the curbside

[@tzwacdastag8223]

Me: Where to Find Rare Earth Elements? Computer: Did you mean the Elements inside Me

[@Relatablename]

@The Random Virgin That's not very nice

[@getgamingchris]

Please no one don't make this a suddenly uwu. Please.

[@mohammedsami6371]

Kinky

[@jhyland87]

Thats kinda cheesy.

[@tzwacdastag8223]

@Lucas Zhu and arduino

[@stewiegriffin6503]

2018: Your old phone is a veritable gold mine 2019: The dark side of electronic waste recycling

[@macforme]

Stewie: True... but to make phone thinner and thinner...the manufacturers are using glue to put the phone together instead of screws. It is hard and costly to separate the different types of metal now.

[@Hanifmakojia]

Greed will be end of the world.

[@Hybris51129]

And yet it is one of the surest ways to save it the only problem is finding the way that you can make saving the world viable. Like it or not this is basic human nature at work and it's a lot easier to use it then to try and futilely stop it.

[@gtkall]

One more day of *"I can't believe it's 2019 and this shit is still legal!"*

[@bobroberts2371]

BAN would have a greater global affect if they forced countries that currently accept the waste to stop.

[@lonestarr1490]

@@bobroberts2371 You realize that "forcing countries" means either sanctions or war? In both cases, it's the people who suffer.

[@sophiacristina]

Its hard to create a legislation without loopholes that can control exportation the desirable way.

[@bobroberts2371]

Lone Starr I'm saying that BAN needs to force the waste accepting countries to stop, not the USA forcing other countries to stop.

[@macforme]

@@bobroberts2371 maybe "convince" would be more palpable than "force"?

[@JaydenJinx]

these videos are always so well produced. please keep making more.

[@thefirstsin]

Agreed

[@danteinferno175]

The bad recyclers are a problem but what about the big companies like Apple that produce all this waste but are not held responsible for the recycling???? How about laws that mandate a user can drop off their old iPhone to an Apple shop and Apple will make sure it is recycled properly???

[@JaydenJinx]

@@danteinferno175 apple already does this, don't they?

[@CT-vm4gf]

@@danteinferno175Apple is one of the only ones that DOES do this.

[@tzwacdastag8223]

As the Prices of Electronics Goods Fall, There will always be an Increase in E-Waste

[@ragulu9267]

@skankhunt 42 I am also thinking about this. Why making many models and creating many devices which creates a lot of waste.

[@bobroberts2371]

skankhunt 42 As the price of manufacturing falls, the price of singular repairs does not and can't. A TV factory has specialized test equipment and access to custom parts that they can amortize over 100's of thousands of units where as a local TV shop might see a few dozen of a particular type. Also, is anyone going to spend $ 100 on a $ 200 TV and wait a few weeks for parts to arrive?

[@jeanvieira1738]

Porno

[@jeanvieira1738]

Bob tobert

[@jaysee6320]

Wow this is what journalism should be. Telling the public about the wrongs committed in secret. Thanks for this awesome video, I subscribed ;)

[@DC9848]

Can you make a follow up piece of latest technologies to dismantle eWaste in Western countries?

[@afallingtree9114]

As an Ewaste specialist myself I do what I can to minimize Ewaste coming from New Zealand. A tip for anyone else in the industry is to up-cycle PCs which can still be used for light workloads like word processing and sell it on the cheap to those who may need an upgrade from their ancient systems, that way your doing good for both your community and the planet.

[@Away0G]

same and also same for most companies out there. Reuse is a huge part of recycling. Except that sometimes the market for this reuse is in the middle east or africa, where emerging tech is a decade behind and they can use the material we would consider scrap.

[@gooseknack]

What I would like to see, is the manufacturer made responsible for their products, right to the end of its life.

[@texforister7023]

Yeah, right, then see what your new cell phone, or e-whatever, costs!

[@macforme]

That is a fabulous idea. Apple does have a buy back program where they give you a few bucks for your old computer IF you buy a new one. Trouble is...do we know what they do with them??? Some maybe refurbished .... but after looking at this video I don't think anyone could keep up so that stuff doesn't go to ewaste.

[@rubenayla]

Imagine an AI capable of recognizing some devices, screws, chips... and taking the screws, unsoldering the chips, and classifying everything automatically

[@danielhu6485]

We’re still far away from that reality unfortunately

[@thefirstsin]

You can't really remove gold plating without electro plating it.

[@boardsort]

@@thefirstsin Electroplating is the depositing of gold, not the removal. You are thinking of reverse electroplate and it is not the preferred method as it is slow and only works with certain base metals. Besides, there are many, many ways to safely and effectively recover gold including incineration, leaching and acidic dissolution.

[@rickycespedes3015]

Anyone else just have a cabinet all their family’s old phones go in?

[@5head191]

Yup. A drawer stuffed with them. All the way back to the original moto flip phones

[@cmonster6]

Ricky Cespedes still got a brand new Nokia flip phone in the box 📦

[@StelaTasheva]

Putting something away doesn't mean you are dealing with it (I do keep my old electronics too). Sooner or latter they MUST be recycled in the right manner.

[@DanRustle]

nope but way to contribute to ewaste

[@kenjett2434]

All those holding onto electronics wish i could collect them as i break everything down into individual components. I refine the metals myself.

[@e2622]

That last statement really rings home why we are in the situation we're in.

[@Rainbow__cookie]

I like electronic i like to take things apart I often dumpster dive for old electronics Mostly computers I feel really bad for the electronics that end up in landfills We can fix them We need to refurbish more

[@argentonomad]

Behind almost every problem you can think of there is always one culprit, human greed.

[@BigRobChicagoPL]

A great way to boost profit if you recycle locally would be to sell valuables online. I see a lot of recyclers who receive desirable vintage computers and list them on ebay with decent turnover rates. There's more money to be made and another classic machine gets saved.

[@amanjha9945]

We should learn a lesson from this video and that is "use your product a little longer then throwing it away for some shiny new thing". What you guy's say, huh?

[@Dawid-kn6mv]

But that would hurt hipsters who "need" to always have a new iPhone and prefer complaining about goverment not caring for enviroment than doing something actualy something useful themselfs.

[@alexsiemers7898]

At the bare minimum, just save your dead electronics in storage for now. I have an old laptop and an iPhone that haven’t worked for at least 3 years, yet I can’t bring myself to throw them away. It was purely sentimental value at first, but now I feel that this is another good reason. Meanwhile I’m typing this on an iPhone 8, and have zero plans to upgrade anytime soon.

[@amanjha9945]

@Dawid,@Alex siemers. INDEED IT IS TRUE you see those guys will always be there. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. So let's start by ourselves and by the way I'm using a 2017 VIVO phone cause in INDIA YOU CANT afford a APPLE product. Best of luck.

[@chaoticlife311]

@@Dawid-kn6mv That's because they didnt know better. Let's show them.

[@ElixirEcho]

@@alexsiemers7898 That's how you turn into a hoarder bro.

[@sagu1lar]

Somehow I get the feeling that this is the beginning of Wall-E in real life.

[@mrmaniac3]

I dug out my brother's WinXP computer, it's wonderful. No longer will I have to sell my soul to make old games work.

[@phiksit]

Still using multiple laptops daily that are running XP.

[@DorAmram]

Biggest surprise going out of this video: 6.5 + 2.5 = 8

[@markdombrovan8849]

Yeah, gotta like a lawyer who can't count

[@OrangeFluffyCat]

That math would be if there is only one owner. He said doing it right would cost about 2.5mil (total I’m assuming, not 2.5mil per owner) and each owner made a little less than 8mil. How many owners were there? Lets say 2. If each owner, making less than 8 mil (lets say 7.8mil) gives up 1.3mil, they each make 6.5mil and have 2.6mil to spend on actually recycling things properly.

[@321tryagain]

(8 + 8 - 2.5)/2 = 6.75

[@syndicalistspeedsolver]

Felt that on a deep level

[@OrangeFluffyCat]

Mark Dombrovan he knows how to count, y’all don’t know how to listen 😂

[@geofffalbo5900]

A great documentry is Manufactured Landscapes. The doc is a little slow moving, but one part of the doc shows mountains of ewaste in China.

[@dharmeshsolanki4354]

i already tell my all neighbours i will fix your electronics like phone, tv, BT speakers printers. just don't throw it away or sell it to scrappers.... but most of them sell it to scrapers but when some of them ask me to repair smartphone, i fix it for free but they still give me some money and it is very satisfying 😃👍 I am from India and i just want to say that everyone should try to fix their own things and if you still dont need it just give it away to someone who would like to fix or reuse it

[@anfolt]

JerryRigEverything must've been proud of you

[@dharmeshsolanki4354]

@@anfolt yah and i love when he make smartphone's back glass transparent... it looks really cool

[@dharmeshsolanki4354]

@Brian Troisi its my hobby. i just love to see inside electronics 😀

[@BertGrink]

and if it is unfixable, like Apple's products, don't buy it

[@johnespino886]

I haven't read the Basel Legislation but I really hope that one of the things that gets more attention moving forward is how waste is exported. To be honest, I think the ideal situation is to ban the export of waste, and let countries handle it by themselves. This incentivizes nations to look after how much waste they produce and introduce further legislation on how to produce more efficiently. But that is the ideal goal-when you think about the nuances especially in countries where primary mining and refinement of raw materials and production of goods takes place and which outputs a lot more hazardous waste than countries who does not do manufacturing and imports many of the goods people consume.

[@qswat7268]

I'm amazed that this channel hasn't reached a million subscribers yet.

[@BizKwikTwist]

What's insane is how much of that has quality usable materials still, as someone how has recently tried fixing some of the electronics that "break" in my house, its incredible how easy it sometimes is.....rip Earth.

[@brendansmith9677]

4:13 or the sludge is from dissolving the boards in acid. Absolutely terrible for the workers and the environment.

[@drewalz6296]

I worked for an electronics recycling company over the summer and we got devices with the trackers implanted in them. Our manager would warn us daily to look out for them. We would get in trouble if they were trashed instead of recycled

[@AlexNewton]

If anyone is looking to recycle their Samsung Note 10 I'll take it!

[@Snelliscool]

Bruh😂

[@1015KillAtron]

Lol! 🙋🏼‍♂️ Me too!

[@kostka_bruhowa7848]

any google pixel is mine tbh!

[@riglowkun]

Reading this on my Note 10 Plus

[@thetechfromheaven]

Wait 2-3 More years for all those burnt in cracked glass fully functioning Note 10's 😆👌

[@haijehiemstra2883]

You could reuse them tbh as some cool collection or musuem or something

[@rob._.]

verge science is so valuable information. Very neutral and objective. love it

[@Dragon228833]

Crazy to think that so many people just throw away their electronics. I still have nearly every single electronic device I’ve had since I was little

[@Jonedcc]

Do you have any examples of proper recycling at scale?

[@breadman32398]

I believe paper and cardboard recycling is pretty efficient. Most new stuff is made of ~40% recycled material. And 70% of cardboard used makes it back for recycling. Mostly because companies have systems to ensure most of what they use gets recycled. Consumers dont care nearly as much about where they throw things.

[@Jonedcc]

@@breadman32398 my question was aimed at ewaste recycling at scale. This "conspiracy" group seems to focus on shady recyclers, which makes it seem like there's a better alternative. However the one example they provided was a small scale company that only processes a the beginning stages, not the complete lifecycle. Ewaste is a serious problem, but so are "whistle blower" groups at solving the core recycling issue.

[@breadman32398]

@@Jonedcc ah, true. I imagine fully recycling waste start to finish is next to impossible considering all the different components, materials, and types.

[@TrashDolphin]

@@Jonedcc designing products with repair in mind would be a great first step.

[@jonathantan2469]

Steel and iron, copper, aluminium, and glass. Also, asphalt... used to pave roads, sidewalks, runways, and lots... ironically made from crude oil (and crushed rocks).

[@jackliu8991]

man I just love your videos, so well put together, so well-edited, and very informative!

[@cgmislive]

Love how they just traveled to Asia to prove it was their lmao

[@tkachenkosergii]

Wow, The Verge, what a great video. Superior job of the crew!

[@eds6889]

Thank you for keeping an eye on what’s going.

[@am1453]

I genuinely thought that the guy in the beginning was fixing to say "and they could have gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for those kids and their dog!" lolol

[@arronphilchavez]

2:38 "So it still looks like a normal... Piece of electronic." So confident.... Yeah a green board loosely shoved next to a blue board. I Feel like he really worked hard for those rubber gloves.

[@marufbepary100]

None of the problems in the world are going to change until it's way too late.

[@loneranger7271]

Someone's waste can be someone's treasure 🤓

[@jnskm]

If electronics / computers were easy to fix and/or upgrade, I think we would see less waste. And if LCD manufacturers did not use mercury in the CCFL tubes back in the day we wouldn’t have mercury to deal with in the first place. In Silicon Valley all the major semiconductor companies that had manufacturing activities left behind a big toxic waste, hence the absurd number of superfund sites here. All the people who knew and who’s made tons of money should be sued by the cities, counties, states, and the federal government. Not the companies but the people who ran them. And the community service hours, hopefully in the tens of thousands of hours, should be spent decontaminating soil, water, air, and recycling all the poisonous e-waste they have generated.

[@23broS4]

this is so interesting!!

[@madhurakamat1656]

Thanks verge science for this topic

[@foscorsohil8940]

Feels like im sitting in this guy's Adams apple.

[@sid-ahmedaris6690]

I just found the relatable comment I was looking for !

[@WaniSiyam]

I think.. manufacturers are also to be blamed here.

[@Noway1252]

Great video thanks for this wonderful reporting on this important issue

[@bobyoung1698]

This is sad. It seems as if there are enough valuable materials in a computer - metals, for example; some plastics; wiring - that could be recycled for use here in the United States.

[@pawpatrolnews]

How do you know I'm watching this on an electronic device? Are you spying on me?!?

[@xp3r670]

Make sure the power supplies don't come into contact with the sides of the cases

[@gabrielfair724]

Wow! Great job Verge and BAN. I always worried the electronics recycling wasn't what I assumed it was

[@joelporcaro2977]

The Verge is seriously stepping up the quality of their video reporting with these feature stories. These issues matter so thank you and keep it up!

[@DougGrinbergs]

Maybe look into Apple iPhone recycling robot they pitched some years ago.

[@WindFireAllThatKindOfThing]

Remember this, next time you buy some stupid gizmo from Amazon

[@1015KillAtron]

This is a verry interesting topic to me. I want to get involved locally and do more for my community and it's e-waste removal.

[@ComfortElectrics]

nice to see the expert installs the tracker next to a nice large metal shield, that's definitely going to help signal strength.

[@goodun2974]

Perhaps the metal "shield" becomes a large antenna for the tracking device!

[@ComfortElectrics]

@@goodun2974 That tracker most likely uses GPS or/and cellular bands. The frequencies used by these services do not play ball well with large sheets of metal used as antennas, not to mention you can see the device is wrapped in plastic and self contained, no external wires.

[@122501lya]

Conclusion : It might be the best to not recycle electronic waste since landfill are well reglemented : they colect all the fluid, it's not exported far away, and does not cause harm to the people in china who are sorting the wastes.

[@johngooglesucksdick7998]

7:38 looking at all that tech makes me think of heaven.

[@DagoRuiz]

I think this 'old news' subject was already covered years ago in the hit documentary series "Futurama" 🤔

[@jewelsharma5759]

There has to be some solution?

[@maizehawaii]

Just retired my note 3, its just a music player now.

[@jrjon738]

Great documentary mate, keep up the great work!!!!!!!!!!

[@husnainanwaar1992]

Why don't Apple or Samsung recycle ?

[@milesprower6641]

Seeing all this old technology left to rot when a good portion could possibly be fixed relatively easily, makes me sad. There's probably dozens of Trinitrons and other stuff, some of which might actually be functionally but dumped because the owner deemed it useless.

[@eds6889]

No the Free Market does not fix everything. Left unchecked greed will never do the right thing.

[@92Frederik]

You do realise this has nothing to do with the Free Market argument? A state-owned recycling company wouldn't necessarily be better. The institutions' oversight has to be improved to enforce existing regulation better and internationally existing standards have to be ratified and implemented. The Free Market argument does not mean that everything is perfect if you just leave it alone, it refers to price mechanisms, government meddling in an economy and economic efficiency. It still requires a regulatory framework and institutions around it to function properly

[@phiksit]

The concept of a "free market" is such a joke... considering all the subsidies and tax breaks they get... and why is a CEO worth millions in salary?

[@stephenz7238]

Man this is tough to watch. Personally I haven’t thrown out a single electronic (phone, computer) in my life. I’m 17 right now and I still have my iPod 5 from middle school. I still have my laptop from grade 9. They both still work but I don’t use them anymore and I’ve grown too attached to throw them away. Currently I’m using an iPhone 7 Plus to watch this video and I’ve had it for over three years now. I only recently retired my old laptop since I got a new computer. It isn’t even a year old yet.

[@stoonookw]

I hate when people talk like the narrator. It sounds like they just got done talking for 24 hours straight then decided it was a good idea to voice record.

[@jayovani6268]

This will be big in the near future.

[@jakegreen7394]

This dude really just said recycling irresponsibly is a form of murder...

[@ElixirEcho]

Threw a straw out the window and got life in prison.

[@audreyh6628]

And? If you knowingly cause death to others through your own laziness/selfishness, where does the responsibility lie?

[@Secondary_Identifier]

I know right?! Now I'm just a humble industrial chemical industry executive, but I'm tired of these dang hippies calling ME a murderer for shipping all this waste cyanide to South East Asian work orphanages where it can be responsibly handled by under-educated and ill-equiped 11 year olds! I'm doing that country a service! Sending valuable jobs, materials, to their country, and drastically reducing the orphan population! I'm the good guy here!

[@HeyHS]

Thanks for this crucial work you guys are doing!

[@illitero]

The Verge: hypes latest and greatest Also The Verge: there's SO MUCH waste

[@dess3597]

Yeah because you can't enjoy the latest and greatest, while at the same time asking for changes to the system. Good on them for promoting this video.

[@illitero]

@@dess3597 Yeah, because as detailed in the video itself: nothing like an ally that contributes to the problem :) Grump aside, I agree with you that it's good they made an article on it and hopefully it's enough to make a difference to whoever watches. But the general product of The Verge is consumption without consideration of the external cost, and encouraging that kind of rampant consumerism is the driving force of why things are as bad as they are. Part of genuine responsibility includes recognizing something's usefulness beyond simply being new, and arbitrarily discarding it means that's just one more on the pile - multiplied by billions of other people that do the exact same thing every single day.

[@triadwarfare]

Some countries do benefit from EWaste as long as it's still useable. We have lots of old dell monitors being used on computer rental shops.

[@toxic5628]

Per my knowledge GPS is sending the location only one way - to the device. It's not receiving information from the device. For example if you have a cell phone - the phone will determine its GPS coordinates but it will need Internet connection in order to send them to someone (or server etc). How do those devices transmit the GPS location back to the system? My apologies if this question was already answered! Thank you!

[@mightbesherwood1313]

Car trackers, used to recover repossessed vehicles, transit their location over 2G cellular. They might be using that, though that means they can't watch it cross oceans - just when it arrives.

[@juggerfox]

Most people in "developed countries" are completely disconnected from their surroundings. Food is another example. Millions of animals are killed every day, unnecessarily, to end-up like triangular steaks or burger patties. Growing these animals is literally destroying the world we can live in, from the ozone to the ocean. And barely anybody is conscious of how their food ended up on their plate. Things just appear when you buy them and disappear when you bin them. The "from where" and "to where" is completely ignored.

[@embeddedstar]

I keep all my electronics or trade it in so it can be resold. If it's dead and absolutely unusable, I'll just keep it lol. Just keep the box and have it sit in my garage, like old printers and all my past PCs are still with me. I sell my monitors that are too pricey to fix to local swapmeets so they can resell themselves.

[@davidwillard7334]

So What's your End ! To This !! ??

[@hiddennugget9413]

Who throws away a phone?? It sits in a drawer.

[@boxertest]

Yeah I don't buy or replace my electronics every year like most people, after I spend $1000+ that device/s has to last me until it is unusable!!!

[@natyalim]

This is extremely frustrating to watch as someone who is almost fanatical about recycling. What I think should also be a takeaway of this video is that we as consumers can be way more efficient as well. Avoid getting that new product until your old one is actually broken. If you double its lifetime you can roughly say that you cut the waste you generated in half. Increase its lifespan just 5 or 10% longer than what you initially planned, and everyone followed suit, then that would already mean thousands of tons of waste saved.

[@TeguhSantosot_so]

These shown us how the hypocrisies in western countries appeared in many ways

[@92Frederik]

So the USA are all "western countries"? I'll just assume you were absent when geography was taught at your school

[@MisterHolaMan]

I worked at an electronics recycling plant for almost a year and they just put the printers through the shredder even though the bulbs have mercury. There were just too many to demann every single printer! 7 sorting stations would separate the base materials into boxes, and then shipped to china and japan for melting down... There is such small amounts of precious metals in each item that it isn’t even profitable to extract it.

[@virajmalik1320]

Amazing video !

[@virajmalik1320]

Ben Adians I did

[@robertc.319]

Let’s make all the giant e manufacturers (apple microsoft hp dell google etc)pay for recycling..

[@flashsurfing]

Right now you're watching this on an electronic device... they know...

[@darealkidkyg2789]

D G lmaooo

[@imnonene]

Right!? How did they know!?

[@moth.monster]

I mean, my device is using some ten year old hardware. Repurposing old server hardware to make workstations is great fun.

[@92kosta]

No, I am watching this on a flip book.

[@thetechfromheaven]

It's a Nokia so it may outlive me 😆

[@apoorvagupta742]

This needs to go viral, and no offense to anyone every country should take care of their own waste.

[@OlichkaNesterova]

I recycle by never getting rid of my old cell phone. I call it my cellphone grave, which is a box I keep probably forever.

[@SA2004YG]

And after you're gone? You're just delaying the problem.

[@alexsiemers7898]

goodvibration delaying it until eWaste recycling actually happens, when it can be properly dismantled.

[@drjwilber]

@@SA2004YG the inheritors - maybe give it to museum

[@TheDuckPox]

I would say, yes, I would keep my old cellphones and probably other small things that can be used several times. But what about lamp bulbs, non rechargeable batteries or what about old mice and keyboards which will just make your house dirty, unhealthy, and less spacious?

[@mariachristina97]

@@TheDuckPox Check out Terracycle! Their boxes can be a little pricey tbh but they can recycle pretty much anything. If you can't afford them, it might be worth it if you split the cost with some friends and family so they can recycle their stuff too. A bunch of sustainably minded stores have some of their recycling boxes available to the public.

[@KneelBeforeBlue]

It's all about the money honey.

[@PTNLemay]

0:13 In a box tucked away in my closet, most likely. Or handi-down-ed to a friend.

[@dogrichheinwoof2105]

This is just another reason to keep your old electronics. I always kept my old stuff in case i needed a spare part or wanted to give someone a new device (say someone lost there phone and can't buy a new one at that moment) and this just a better reason for me to keep on doing it.