The digital television transition, completed successfully by the United States on June 12, 2009, is generating a large flow of electronic waste as consumers continue to upgrade their televisions. We all want to recycle responsibly, but how?
Up to 80% of electronic waste like old televisions, telephones and computers is exported to developing countries or US prisons where toxic components are openly burned, soaked in acid baths, or piled into mountains for scrap recovery. Impoverished workers often smash leaded glass tubes, breathe solder fumes and melt down plastics to get at the valuable metals inside.
Let’s look at some numbers: 130 million cell phones disposed of annually, 500 million computers, and a D-TV transition that has suddenly rendered 20 years of that most common American appliance, the television, disposable.
The Bay Area D-TV Assistance Centers, working with the NTIA, the FCC and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, have helped consumers navigate the converter box program for the past year, saving many televisions from the landfill and keeping Bay Area residents plugged in to news, information and entertainment.
Join us on Monday August 31st at 1:30pm at the San Francisco Main Library for a briefing and information session on responsible ways to dispose of electronic waste and appliances, so American technology upgrades don’t become an environmental catastrophe for others.
Consumers need and want this information.
The briefing will feature short presentations from the SF Department of the Environment, community recyclers, The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and local D-TV Assistance workers. All attendees will receive a resource list of local recycling options that are community-oriented and environmentally responsible.
Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance’s Executive Director, says “This briefing is a crucial part of the D-TV transition support services we’ve been providing for the past year. We didn’t want anyone to lose access to information because of the switchover. We don’t want people to lose their lives, either. Consumers want to do the right thing, but they need help to identify the best options”.