(Greenpeace image)
With electronics, obsolescence seems to be the name of the game. Being thrifty with regards to our electronics purchases has also meant by default, being environmentally-friendly.
When VCR went out of mode to make way for DVD players, we hung on to our VCR for as long as we could. It came to a point where we were getting VCR tapes for free because everyone was giving us their old movies. By the time we finally bought a DVD player, prices had gone done significantly. And it helps that we try and buy reconditioned items too.
The advent of Blu-ray seems to be spelling the end for DVD and HD-technology. So says the manufacturers of Blu-ray: “jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers — including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson” (Blu-ray.com).
But is this really the end? At the risk of sounding like a techie idiot (which in many aspects I probably am), I stand my ground and say that for as long as our DVD is working and our daughter’s “Sound of Music” and “March of the Penguins” dvds are playing on them, we will not add our DVD player to the landfill.
Hanging on to our would-be obsolete electronics not only saves us money, but it also:
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makes a statement about our not subscribing to mass-marketed obsolescence as Annie Lenorad’s The Story of Stuff so engagingly illustrates
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reduces waste significantly – portable DVD players with LCD screens are considered “hazardous waste” when discarded, so there’s that much more of an impetus to keep those in use for as long as possible.
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More than 140 000 tonnes of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos, and small home appliances accumulate in Canadian landfills each year. That’s equivalent to the weight of about 28 000 adult African elephants or enough uncrushed electronic waste to fill up the Toronto Skydome every 15 years” (EnviroZine by Environment Canada).
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gives our provincial government time to figure out a way for us to recycle our end-of-life electronics more effectively. “So far, Alberta and Saskatchewan have passed legislation for collecting and sorting obsolete electronics, and other provinces are expected to follow suit over the next few years“(Natural Resources Canada). Bearing in mind that the handling of hazardous waste by our province haz-waste watchdogs is questionable, we probably shouldn’t hold our breath…but hold on to our DVD players instead.
If however, you feel that you really need to replace that DVD player with a Blu-ray Disc player, consider gathering your friends’ and neighbours’ working electronic stuff too and donating them to Renewed Computer Technology where new homes and uses will be found for them…far from the landfill.
