HOW TO SPRING CLEAN YOUR DIGITAL LIFE

Spring’s a time of new beginnings, regrowth, and hope! So it’s a great time to give all your tech—both physical and virtual—a good, thorough scouring. Read on to find out how.

- CHANDRA STEELE

Eliminating E-Waste: Big Tech Can Do Better

It’s unreasonable to expect that the massive problem of e-waste can be solved at any scale by individuals. We need an industry-wide reckoning.

E-waste is one of the largest environmental problems the world faces. The amount of electronics that are disposed of each year is not fully-quantified, but its impact is, in ever-accelerating climate change. As technology evolves, it exacerbates the problem with myriad new products. But it also can help with solutions.

When we’re talking about e-waste, we’re talking about items large and small, from a tiny outdated iPod that gets tossed in the trash to a roomful of servers that have reached the end of their usefulness and are sent off for recycling. Whether these items are improperly sent to landfills or are properly processed so their parts can be reused, their disposal takes a toxic toll on the Earth and the humans who inhabit it.

Potential e-waste is all around you: the screen you’re reading this on, the tablet you use to stream shows, the smart washing machine in your basement. It’s the copiers and servers in your workplace. And it’s the very equipment that’s powering the internet, from its sources to the router that’s delivering this news to you.