by Colin Staub for eScrap News
The Recycled Materials Association warned of potential “severe” disruption to the materials recovery sector after tariffs targeting the U.S.’s largest trading partners took effect this week. Some tariffs on Mexican imports were paused for another month on March 6. Meanwhile, Canada’s proposed response includes tariffs on U.S. exports of recycled materials.
In short:
The latest Global E-Waste Monitor highlights the vast quantities of metals like copper and aluminum in discarded electronics, with only a fraction currently recycled.
Essential for low-carbon technologies, these metals could significantly offset the demand currently met through environmentally damaging mining.
Improved recycling technologies and policies are crucial for increasing the recovery of rare and valuable metals from e-waste.
Key quote:
“There is very little reporting on the recovery of metals [from e-waste] globally. We felt that it was our duty to get more facts on the table.”
— Kees Baldé, lead report author
Why this matters:
Metals like copper and aluminum, when improperly disposed of, can leach into soil and water, potentially harming wildlife and impacting human health through the food and water supply. Recycling e-waste can mitigate these risks. By recovering metals like copper and aluminum from old electronics, we not only reduce the environmental harm but also decrease the need to extract raw materials, which often involves ecologically and socially harmful mining practices.
In 2021, electronic waste from outweighed the Great Wall of China.
by Dani Rae Wascher, University of New Mexico
Professor of Marketing at the Anderson School of Management, Catherine Roster, provides insight into the marketing world of overconsumption and a shift in mindset to sustainability long-term.
Roster, along with her colleague Joseph Ferrari, a psychologist at DePaul University, co-authored a research article published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology where they discovered that clutter has a strong negative relationship with people's feelings of well-being and their psychological sense of home, which reflects a person's feelings about home being a safe refuge. Read More…
by Will Atwater September 26, 2023 NC Health News
Environmental advocates across the state were shocked last week by the insertion of a provision in House Bill 259, now part of the 2023-24 state budget, that blocks local municipalities from establishing ordinances to reduce single-use plastic use. - You can’t make this stuff up!
“Plastic waste is a scourge on our society on many levels,” said Wil Weldon, board chair of Don’t Waste Durham, a nonprofit organization working to eliminate waste by establishing a so-called circular economy, a system designed to “keep materials, products and services in circulation for as long as possible” to slow climate change, according to the EPA. If fewer single-use materials, such as plastics, are produced, it lowers CO2 emissions from fossil fuels used to make plastics, and it reduces emissions from plastic waste decomposition. READ MORE…
This story is written by Joumana Khatib and published in the New York Times
If you’re inspired to pick up a book about climate change this Earth Day, here are five good options