Recycling Cell Phones

Dear EarthTalk: What happens to my old cell phone after I upgrade? Do the stores really recycle them or give them to the poor, or are they just ending up in landfills? Where can I take mine to ensure that it is dealt with properly?
-- Paul G., Reno NV

As cell phones proliferate they are giving computers and monitors some competition for the dubious distinction as the largest contributor to the world’s growing e-waste problem. Indeed, toxin-laden electronics are clogging landfills and polluting air and groundwater supplies from coast to coast.

Cell Phones are Among the Fastest Growing Types of Trash
The average North American gets a new cell phone every 18 to 24 months, making old phones—many that contain hazardous materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame retardants and arsenic—the fastest growing type of manufactured garbage in the nation. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans discard 125 million phones each year, creating 65,000 tons of waste.

Convenient Recycling Support for Cell Phone Users
Luckily, a new breed of electronics recyclers is stepping in to help. Call2Recycle, a nonprofit organization, offers consumers and retailers in the United States and Canada simple ways to recycle old phones. Consumers can enter their zip code on the group’s website and be directed to a drop box in their area. Most major electronics retailers, from Radio Shack to Office Depot, participate in the program and offer Call2Recycle drop-boxes in their stores. Call2Recycle recovers the phones and sells them back to manufacturers, which either refurbish and resell them or recycle their parts for use in making new products.

Recycling Cell Phones for Charity and to Help Developing Countries
The CollectiveGood organization takes used cell phones, refurbishes them, and then re-sells them to distributors and carriers for use primarily in developing countries, providing affordable communications to poorer citizens while helping to “bridge the digital divide.” They also recycle all non-functioning batteries through a partnership with the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation. When you donate your phone to CollectiveGood you can direct the profits from the sales to a charity of your choice.

Changing Attitudes about Cell Phone Recycling
Another player is ReCellular, which manages the in-store collection programs for Bell Mobility, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, Best Buy and Verizon. The company also maintains partnerships with Easter Seals, the March of Dimes, Goodwill Industries and other nonprofits that undertake cell phone collection drives as a way of funding their charitable work. According to ReCellular vice-president Mike Newman, the company is trying to change attitudes about used cell phones, to get consumers to “automatically think of recycling cell phones just as they currently do with paper, plastic or glass.

States and Provinces Lead the Way on Mandatory Cell Phone Recycling
Neither the United States nor Canada mandates electronics recycling of any kind at the federal level, but a few states and provinces are getting into the act at their own initiative. California recently passed the first cell phone recycling law in North America. As of July 1, 2006, electronics retailers doing business there must have a cell phone recycling system in place in order to legally sell their products, whether online or in-store. Other U.S. states considering similar legislation include Illinois, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Virginia, while the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are likely to jump on the mandatory cell phone recycling bandwagon soon.

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RECOGNIZING AND EXPLOITING HOLE of BIO PORE

Naturally, biopori is puncture of at land formed by effect of organism activity in land of like worm or roots movement in land. The hole will contain the air and become the band emit a stream of irrigate. Become the indirect rainwater step into the dismissal channel irrigate, but soaking into land pass the hole

But, in urban area, grove existence progressively defeated by building so that hole biopori become scarce progressively. Moreover, to the number of grove do not always interpret there will be absorbent juicy, because land surface closed by a moss make the water cannot diffuse to the ground

To overcome the problem, hence made by hole of diffusion or diffusion well of made in human being which is now recognized with the hole biopori. Biopori can be made in front page, backyard or garden from home. hole Biopori is generally made with the diameter of about 30 cm with into varying among 95 cm to > 150 cm, apart between hole of around 50 cm-100 cm. We will not without effect if when making this biopori. Benefit which can be got for example

1. Preventing floods

Floods have come to the disaster harming to citizen Jakarta. Existence of Hole biopori can become the answer from the problem. Conceiving if when each every house, office or every building in Jakarta have the biopori mean the amount of water which immediately step into the land of course there are also many and can prevent the happening of floods

2. place of exile organic Garbage

To the number of cumulative garbage have also become the separate problem in town Jakarta. We earn also assist to lessen this problem by dissociating our household garbage become the anorganic and organic garbage. For the garbage of organic earn the us throw away in hole biopori which we make.

3. Fertilizing crop

Organic garbage is which we throw away in hole biopori represent the food for the organism of existing in land. The organism can make the garbage become the compost representing manure to crop of around its

4. Improving the quality of ground water

Organism in ground can make the garbage become the mineral which soluble then in water. Its result, ground water become with quality because containing mineral

Many benefit for the environment of our with the existence of biopori, hence making biopori can become one of the our consideration so that to be our environment become better

Adapted From of Corps Info

CONSTRUCTED WET LAND



constructed wet land (lahan basah yang sengaja dibuat) adalah salah satu system pengolahan limbah yang prinsipnya cenderung meniru proses purifikasi di alam.

System ini banyak digunakan untuk penanganan limbah domestik komunal dan limbah pertanian. Salah satu prasyarat yang diperlukan adalah tersedianya lahan.

1. SISTEM PENGOLAHAN

Terdapat beberapa tipe system pengolahan dasar (basic Treatment System) yang masuk katagori constructed wet land :

a. Treatment diatas permukaan tanah.

b. Filtrasi dengan aliran vertical

c. Filtrasi dengan aliran horizontal.

Treatment diatas permukaan

Dilakukan dengan menyebarkan air limbah secara teratur di atas permukaan tanah dibentuk sedemikian rupa hingga contournya bertingkat sesuai dengan desain.

Filtrasi dengan aliran vertikal

Dilakukan dengan membagi limabh ke beberapa filter bed (2 atau 3 unit) secara bergantian. Pembagian limbah secara bergantian dilakukan dengan pengaturan klep sehingga diperlukan operator untuk pengoperasiannya.

Filtrasi dengan aliran horizontal

Dilakukan dengan mengalirkan limbah melewati media filter secara horizontal. Cara ini sederhana dan praktis tidak membutuhkan perawatan, bila didesain dan dibangun dengan baik.

2. FILTRASI HORISONTAL

Penyumbatan adalah merupakan salah satu factor yang perlu diperhatikan dalam filtrasi ini. Bila terjadi penyumbatan maka konstruksi tersebut tidak akan berfungsi dengan semestinya dan perlu dilakukan pembongkaran serta penggantian media dan pekerjaan tersebut merupakan pekerjaan yang menyulitkan.

Karena itu pemilihan media merupakan hal yang sangat penting di dalam mendesain filtrasi ini.

Beberapa syarat yang perlu diperhatikan untuk aplikasi :

1. Sediment di dalam limbah cair harus cukup rendah.

2. suspended solid yang terendapkan harus kurang dari 100 ml/l.

3. COD dari limbah tidak lebih dari 4000 mg/l.

Banyak teori dan pendapat yang menjelaskan proses yang terjadi, tetapi terdapat beberapa patokan logis yang perlu diperhatikan di dalam mendesain dalam pelaksanaan konstruksi filtrasi horizontal, adalah :

- filter bed yang luas dan tidak terlampau dalam.

- Zona inlet yang lebih luas.

- Perlu diatur agar aliran terdistribusi secara merata pada seluruh lebar zona inlet.

- Memakai gravel dengan bentuk yang relative bulat dan ukuran yang hampir sama untuk media.

Agar tidak terjadi percolasi air limbah karena kebocoran, maka konstruksi filter filter dibuat dengan :

- lapisan tanah lait yang kedap air.

- Plastik

- Pasangan (beton, pasangan batu).

3. TANAMAN

Tanaman yang digunakan untuk menutup filter media adalah :

- yang hidup di air limbah

- yang mempunyai pola perakaran yang dalam dan luas hingga dapat menjalar dan menembus sela filter media dan mencengkeram.

BORDA (Brement Overseas Research & Development Association) melaporkan bahwa Phragmites Australis (Glagah, Parumpung, Kasongket) merupakan tanaman yang amat baik digunakan pada konstruksi ini.

Don't Reused Plastic Bottles

Chemicals May Contaminate Food and Drinks in Reused Plastic Bottles
Studies have indicated that food and drinks stored in such containers—including those ubiquitous clear Nalgene water bottles hanging from just about every hiker’s backpack—can contain trace amount of Bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical that interferes with the body’s natural hormonal messaging system.

Reused Plastic Bottles Can Leach Toxic Chemicals
The same studies found that repeated re-use of such bottles—which get dinged up through normal wear and tear and while being washed—increases the chance that chemicals will leak out of the tiny cracks and crevices that develop over time. According to the Environment California Research & Policy Center, which reviewed 130 studies on the topic, BPA has been linked to breast and uterine cancer, an increased risk of miscarriage, and decreased testosterone levels.

BPA can also wreak havoc on children’s developing systems. (Parents beware: Most baby bottles and sippy cups are made with plastics containing BPA.) Most experts agree that the amount of BPA that could leach into food and drinks through normal handling is probably very small, but there are concerns about the cumulative effect of small doses.

Even Plastic Water and Soda Bottles Should Not Be Reused
Health advocates also recommend not reusing bottles made from plastic #1 (polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET or PETE), including most disposable water, soda and juice bottles. According to The Green Guide, such bottles may be safe for one-time use, but re-use should be avoided because studies indicate they may leach DEHP—another probable human carcinogen—when they are in less-than-perfect condition.

Millions of Plastic Bottles End Up in Landfills
The good news is that such bottles are easy to recycle; just about every municipal recycling system will take them back. But using them is nonetheless far from environmentally responsible: The nonprofit Berkeley Ecology Center found that the manufacture of plastic #1 uses large amounts of energy and resources and generates toxic emissions and pollutants that contribute to global warming. And even though PET bottles can be recycled, millions find their way into landfills every day in the U.S. alone.

Incinerating Plastic Bottles Releases Toxic Chemicals
Another bad choice for water bottles, reusable or otherwise, is plastic #3 (polyvinyl chloride/PVC), which can leach hormone-disrupting chemicals into the liquids they are storing and will release synthetic carcinogens into the environment when incinerated. Plastic #6 (polystyrene/PS), has been shown to leach styrene, a probable human carcinogen, into food and drinks as well.

Safe Reusable Bottles Do Exist
Safer choices include bottles crafted from safer HDPE (plastic #2), low-density polyethylene (LDPE, AKA plastic #4) or polypropylene (PP, or plastic #5). Aluminum bottles, such as those made by SIGG and sold in many natural food and natural product markets, and stainless steel water bottles are also safe choices and can be reused repeatedly and eventually recycled.

Adapted by Environmental issue