e-waste

Tech Giants Are Scrambling to Comply With Emerging Right-to-Repair Laws

You're legally entitled to fix your own gadgets in California, Minnesota, and New York—but not all tech companies have gotten the memo.

Climate Change Maddie Stone, Grist

Please, No More Proprietary Smartwatch Chargers

I realize this is a rarefied problem, the epitome of small potatoes in a world full of Big Existential Crises. But as the world burns and chaos reigns supreme, I am choosing to “maintain” my sanity by hyper-focusing on one, medium-sized hill to die on: We need to get rid of proprietary smartwatch chargers. Every…

Gadgets Victoria Song

Apple Is Cutting Out an Obvious Source of E-Waste

It’s Apple Day, and for once, I don’t have to take on the usual role of climate journalists completely raining on the parade of people hypebeasting the new iPhone. I mean, look, of course you should run your old iPhone into the ground instead of buying a new one if you value a habitable planet…

Earther Brian Kahn

The Only Good Modular Phone Now Has New Cameras and Is Even More Sustainable

Get excited, repair nerds: Fairphone is rolling out a new 3+ model with two new camera modules. And yes, they’re compatible with the company’s current Fairphone 3 model. The sustainability-focused maker of the very best modular phone on Thursday announced its boosted cameras modules, which improve upon those that came standard in the Fairphone 3.…

Gadgets Catie Keck

Congrats, Humanity, We Trashed a Record Number of Electronics Last Year

The world keeps producing more headphones, microwaves, laptops, air conditioners, and other pieces of electronics even as a record amount ends up as e-waste. A new report concluded that in 2019, humanity generated its highest ever total of e-waste globally, underscoring a rapidly growing problem. The Global E-Waste Monitor is an effort spearheaded by the…

Environmental Justice Yessenia Funes

The No-Brainer Fix That Could Reduce Trash and Save You Money

While conducting an interview for this very blog, my phone started to die rapidly. My iPhone is a couple years old, and its battery isn’t what it once was. The logical solution, of course, is to replace the battery because the rest of the device is working fine. But Apple doesn’t make that easy. The…

Earther Dharna Noor

Sonos Won’t Brick Your Device Anymore if You Want to Recycle

A few months ago, Sonos drew the ire of some customers and recyclers trying to trade in their old devices. The main issue was that in order to partake in its Trade Up program—which rewards customers with a discount on new Sonos products if they recycle their old ones—you had to essentially brick the device.…

Gadgets Victoria Song

Sonos Doesn’t Understand How Recycling Works

Trashing your old electronics is bad for the planet—a big reason why you might’ve noticed tech companies push sustainability programs in recent years. Sonos recently joined the recycle brigade in October, launching its Trade Up hardware upgrade program that gives users discounts if they “responsibly recycle older products.” It’s a good idea in theory. The…

Tech News Victoria Song

Your Vape Litter Is Becoming an Environmental Disaster

Anyone who’s participated in a beach cleanup is familiar with the classic cup of cigarette butts. The collection of nasty, soggy, chemically remains of cigarettes is the top item—often numbering in the thousands per cleanup—found in the sand in many parts of the U.S. along with other bits of plastic pollution. But habits are changing,…

Conservation Tim Donnelly

Apple’s New Macs Use ‘100 Percent Recycled Aluminum,’ But What Does That Mean?

Apple’s second press blitz of the fall delivered details on a bunch of new devices. But the company also made some announcements on the environmental front that are generating buzz and raising questions, particularly regarding the recycled materials some of its 2018 product line will use. Specifically, Apple announced that the 2018 models of its…

Earther Maddie Stone

How to Get Rid of Your Old Electronics Without Ruining the Planet

Your childhood NES that hasn’t booted up in a decade. Your stash of old flip phones that you’ve kept in a shoebox in the closet for “sentimental” value. That gallon bag of used batteries that you know you’re not supposed to toss in the dumpster, but after five years of carting them around from apartment…

Conservation Maddie Stone

Study Finds E-Waste in Asia Has Increased at a Staggering Pace

According to a new report from the United Nations University, higher incomes and more affordable prices have lead to an enormous jump in the levels of electronic goods being dumped in Asia. A five-year study found an average increase of 63% in e-waste across 12 countries. Various technological devices have become a part of every…

Tech News Rhett Jones

The Crazy Ways We’ll Soon Mine Old Gadgets for Treasure

Last month, the internet flew into a frenzy over news that Apple recovered $40 million worth of gold from old gadgets last year. That story turned out to be wildly oversold. But our eagerness to celebrate a tech company’s recycling victory speaks to a disturbing truth. We’re terrible at recycling rare and important metals from…

Tech News Maddie Stone

Researchers Devise a Simple Method For Recycling Rare Earth Magnets

You’ve probably heard a bit about rare Earth elements. They’ve got unpronounceable names like ytterbium and praseodymium, and they’re found in nearly ever piece of tech you own. Despite their value, we’re do a piss poor job recycling them. But chemists are now hoping to change that. Clockwise from top center: Rare Earth metals praseodymium,…

Tech News Maddie Stone

Mystery Woman Casually Recycled a $200,000 Vintage Apple-1 Computer

One woman’s trash is literally everyone else’s super-expensive, rare $200,000 piece of computer history. Most of the time, recycled electronics are too crappy to sell on Craigslist. But one California e-recycling center recently received one of the most coveted gadgets ever: A genuine Apple-1 computer. An unidentified woman dropped off the desktop computer, one of…

Tech News Kate Knibbs

These Vases Are Actually Made From Liquified Smartphone Byproducts

It’s not something anyone likes to think about, but your smartphone—or your laptop, or the battery in your hybrid car—created a huge amount of toxic and radioactive waste. And now we know what happens to that waste in the long term. It returns to the earth, mingles with sludge, and finds its way into clay…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

This Designer Uses the Silver Inside All the Gadgets We Throw Away

How long have you had the computer or phone you’re reading this on? How about the others that proceeded it? Inside all of these electronics are precious metals that are usually trashed—even though they are still usable, as this Cape Town jeweler proves. The circuit boards that make up the bones of our devices depend…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

How to Stop Data Thieves From Stealing Information Off Your Old Gadgets

Considering our collective thirst to upgrade to the latest shiny gadget, it’s not surprising that consumer electronics generate a nasty amount of waste—some 3.4 million tons of e-waste year. We are device-gobbling monsters who grow strong on the gleaming newness of our machines. But tossing out “old” devices creates an overlooked hazard. You might think…

Tech News Kate Knibbs

Tracking a Gadget’s Journey From the Mine to Beneath the Christmas Tree

Imagine you’re in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Behind you is China, below you are thousands of tons of consumer goods destined for faraway ports, then stores, then maybe a spot beneath a Christmas tree. You are part of a vast economy that supplies the things we buy—a galaxy of cities, systems, and people…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

This 3D Printer Is Made Out of a Floppy Disk Drive and Other E-Waste

When was the last time you used your computer’s disc drive? What about your DVD player? E-waste is all around us, but as the brilliant Instructables user behind this $60 3D printer proves, there’s plenty to be done with it—if you’ve got some engineering chops. Last week we wrote about the world’s smallest 3D printer,…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

e-waste

Tech Giants Are Scrambling to Comply With Emerging Right-to-Repair Laws

Please, No More Proprietary Smartwatch Chargers

Apple Is Cutting Out an Obvious Source of E-Waste

The Only Good Modular Phone Now Has New Cameras and Is Even More Sustainable

Congrats, Humanity, We Trashed a Record Number of Electronics Last Year

The No-Brainer Fix That Could Reduce Trash and Save You Money

Sonos Won’t Brick Your Device Anymore if You Want to Recycle

Sonos Doesn’t Understand How Recycling Works

Your Vape Litter Is Becoming an Environmental Disaster

Apple’s New Macs Use ‘100 Percent Recycled Aluminum,’ But What Does That Mean?

How to Get Rid of Your Old Electronics Without Ruining the Planet

Study Finds E-Waste in Asia Has Increased at a Staggering Pace

The Crazy Ways We’ll Soon Mine Old Gadgets for Treasure

Researchers Devise a Simple Method For Recycling Rare Earth Magnets

Mystery Woman Casually Recycled a $200,000 Vintage Apple-1 Computer

These Vases Are Actually Made From Liquified Smartphone Byproducts

This Designer Uses the Silver Inside All the Gadgets We Throw Away

How to Stop Data Thieves From Stealing Information Off Your Old Gadgets

Tracking a Gadget’s Journey From the Mine to Beneath the Christmas Tree

This 3D Printer Is Made Out of a Floppy Disk Drive and Other E-Waste

Trump Says He’ll Sign Order to Pay TSA

Deadpool Will Deface ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Classics for a New Secret Lair

Apple’s Siri Isn’t Just Going to Use One Chatbot. It’s Going to Use All of Them

Why ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Is the Key to the Rest of the Series

ASUS ZenScreen 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor Is Now Cheaper Than Black Friday in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale

Early Wildfires Are Surging Across the US—and Trump’s New Fire Agency Isn’t Ready

INIU Brings Another Power Bank to the Spring Sale as SnapGo Keychain Portable Charger Drops to Its Lowest Price

Attorney Hit With Historic Fine for Citing AI-Generated Cases

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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