Yes, You Can Recycle That!
Save the planet AND save your broken smartphone
From the LifeMinute Team
October 24, 2014
Yup, you dropped your pretty smartphone again and that nasty crack in the screen isn't going away. But before you send it to the Graveyard of Broken Devices in the back of your closet to join your tablet with the bum port and the cellphone that drowned in that freak coffee spill (despite you putting it in a rice-filled Ziploc bag like the Internet told you to do!), Danny Seo, Editor-in-Chief of Naturally, Danny Seo, suggests you swing by the mall...because the answer to your prayers may be as close as the nearest RadioShack.
According to Seo, we produce about 250 million tons of trash every single year but only about one-third of it is recycled, even though we can probably recycle up to 100% of it. And we're just as lazy when it comes to repairs. "We're sort of an instant gratification society so when something breaks, you kind of just replace it, get a new one," says Seo. "Well, tablet devices and smartphones, when they get big cracks on the screen [or] they don't charge right away [or] there's button issues...well, there's a new program called Fix It Here. It's at RadioShack locations, and we tested this out...We took in a bunch of devices and in under about two hours, for about less than $40 a device, they actually were able to repair everything." Who are they? The trained technician angels of the Fix It Here program who know just what to do about cracked screens, water damage, broken charging ports, broken buttons, camera issues, audio issues, battery replacement and more. Seo adds, "They analyze it - you go to lunch, come back, you almost have like new devices." Even better, the program comes with a 90-day warranty and the price includes labor and parts, giving you more incentive to at least try to revive your broken devices before rejecting them for something new.
In other We're So Lazy news, Seo reveals, "Another [thing] that we found, most people have hoarded in their home old paint." Yuck. But what do you do with cans of old paint? You can't just throw it away in the trash. Seo suggests you take a screwdriver, open the paint can, let the paint inside completely dry out (it takes about thirty days), and then you take out the disc of paint and throw it out. Then, Seo says, "The whole can itself is actually fully recyclable because it's all steel. So just toss it in your curbside recycling bin and you're good to go."
Where else are we falling short? The supermarket...where we walk right past those free recycling bins. And those bins are good for more than recycling just plastic shopping bags; remember that rice-filled Ziploc sandwich bag that couldn't save your soggy cellphone? Dump out the rice, air the bag out and toss it in the bin, too. Seo explains, "They just have to be sort of clean and dry to be recycled. But they get recycled with the plastic shopping bags into plastic decking and also plastic lumber that's used for community playgrounds."
But back to those dead devices of yours... If they can't be saved, Seo says that's no excuse for not recycling them, too. "We love this nonprofit program; it's called Call2Recycle," says Seo, "And so, if you have a cell phone or a smartphone that you can't repair at RadioShack, you can put it in this free recycling bin along with rechargeable batteries from cordless devices like cordless drills and laptop computers. There's thousands of locations like RadioShack and Home Depot and Lowe's, and you just toss it in the box; it's free to recycle, they get made into new metal products, and what we really love is proceeds benefit a lot of wonderful nonprofit charities."
So that's the good news. The bad news? Now you have absolutely no excuse for not doing your part to be a good citizen of the planet. And for even more inspiration, check out the second issue of Naturally, Danny Seo.
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