My career started before the internet was a part of everyday life. I designed magazine ads, brochures, and just about anything in print. Talk about an industry full of waste. Magazines were a prime way for companies to reach new customers back then. Salespeople would leave behind stacks of catalogs and brochures after meetings; some would even litter the streets with flyers.
This was the world I knew and was a part of.
Nowadays, there is less paper waste and less need for trucks and ships to haul supplies or deliver end products. Instead, we traded those wasteful habits for a faster, more efficient internet-based information delivery system.
Well, it is certainly faster. But in many ways, it was a trade of one wasteful practice for another. We just didn't know it at the time.
Fast-forward to 2001. People were being encouraged to create, not just consume, web content. Blogs and social networks brought us the dawn of Internet 2.0.
Another huge shift came in June 2007 when Steve Jobs took the stage in Cupertino to announce the first iPhone. This added even more fuel to the already explosive growth of tech. The masses were about to get the internet in their pockets, and demand for the latest and greatest tech soared from there.
With all the computers, phones, switches, servers, and cables I bought, sold, and eventually discarded... I have contributed and indirectly influenced far more than my fair share of the world's electronic waste.
As a country, the US comes in second only to China, at nearly 15.5 billion pounds of eWaste disposed of every year. As consumer demand increases and we become more reliant on tech, that number continues to rise. Experts predict world growth of 2-3% more annually, reaching nearly 181 billion pounds of e-waste generated worldwide by 2030. This growing problem is not just a statistic; it’s a looming crisis, especially alarming when some reports say that only 12-18% of that e-waste is recycled properly.
Our collective balance (sheet) is out of whack. We need to fix it... quickly.
The economic benefits of technological advancements are clear. They make us more efficient and improve the health and happiness of countless people every day.
Counteracting many of those advancements, experts estimate an imbalance of $37 billion each year to the population and environment from having to deal with runoff from unprocessed and improperly discarded waste.
Even more disturbing, because of a decline in formal collection and recycling rates, this number will rise by 20% by 2030.
If you think that by pledging to help communities recycle, refurbish, or repurpose old, outdated, and unused tech, I hope to earn back some karmic carbon neutrality... you wouldn't be wrong.
But don't discount the entrepreneurial opportunist in me. The next wave is coming in the form of AI, poising us right on the edge of another round of explosive growth.
Hardware and software breakthroughs are promising to outpace Moore's law. NVIDIA is leading with its machine-learning GPU servers, which are already changing the cloud computing game and making those old data centers obsolete. While newer, more powerful laptops, tablets, phones, and IoT devices are touting AI processing locally, "at the edge."
When the iPhone was released, nobody needed a fancier phone. They got it because they wanted it. But now… smartphones are a necessity.
Even the word “phone” has been redefined. It’s become the hub of people's social networks. It's how they keep up with their schedules, track their health, and pay their bills. Literally... it is their method of payment for food and transportation. Without that little device, life is more difficult for many. It has become a need.
Needs are about to change again. We're heading towards a dramatic and fast-paced tech flip, where the current generation of laptops, tablets, phones, and IoT devices won't have the computing power to process AI requests. Owning an iPhone 12 and waiting for version 15 or 16 to come out won't be an option. Upgrades will become a "need." The same goes for servers, routers, switches, and the peripherals that go with them.
One report puts the number of active desktop and laptop computers at over 2 billion. We build, ship, and buy 300 million more computers and 1 billion more mobile phones annually, and that pace is growing at ~8% per year.
Public pressures have pushed companies like Apple, Google, HP, and Dell to make components more climate-friendly and easier to recycle. Still, those devices will eventually become obsolete and need to be reclaimed.
Rather than IT departments tossing old laptops in a dumpster or stacking them up in storage, ITAD (Information Technology Asset Disposal) initiatives at large companies and government agencies are starting to help.
The most significant impact is likely to come from the smallest contributors, everyday consumers. For them, there's mixed messaging about recycling, especially when access to environmentally friendly disposal is inconvenient.
The message: Although people may have heard about the toxic environmental impact of e-waste in some parts of the world, most still don't realize the immediate hazards of tossing an old computer or battery in with their kitchen scraps.
The method: When people become aware of the dangers, they want to do the right thing. But without a convenient local method in their area, they wind up with piles of obsolete tech in a closet somewhere, or they ignore the dangers and put it in the trash bin, hoping for the best before it eventually winds up in a landfill, much closer to home than they would like to believe.
Of course, I can't be everywhere, so I'm doing what they say—I'm starting locally. After more than 30 years in Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee, Kim and I moved back to the little town where we met. But we learned quickly that Bowling Green isn't so little anymore. I'll spare you the stats for now, but do a little googling, and you'll see that it's growing fast and shows no signs of slowing.
Stay tuned...
In the meantime, visit www.dispo.tech and help us spread the word on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
