ELECTRONIC WASTE
A LENTEN JOURNEY | WEEK 4 | March 14, 2021
Welcome to our fourth week of the Laudato Si’ Circle Lenten Journey! Each week we've been sharing a new theme that will encourage us to grow deeper in our love, knowledge, and concern for creation. Follow our mediation and reflection prompt, research and reading resources, and suggested action steps.
Meditation: This week our theme is e-waste. Spend at least fifteen to twenty minutes reflecting on this. Use our facts and quotations as inspiration. We’ve provided some initial questions to help you explore this week's theme on a personal level, but feel free to follow your thoughts wherever they take you. It's not too late to start a journal to help you record and process those thoughts. If you’re so inspired, start a conversation about your meditation with a family member or friend.
Research/Reading: Spend some time this week learning about how to be a good e-steward. We'll be looking at local resources that can help you responsibly recycle e-waste.
Action: Follow our steps that you can take individually or as a family that will help you grow deeper this Lent spiritually while having a positive impact on our environment.
Meditation:
A sober look at our world shows that the degree of human intervention, often in the service of business interests and consumerism, is actually making our earth less rich and beautiful, ever more limited and grey, even as technological advances and consumer goods continue to abound limitlessly. (Laudato Si’, §34)
Consider the following (from NYS DEC):
U.S. consumers throw away 400 million units of electronic equipment per year. Recycling electronic waste protects human health and the environment by:
diverting thousands of pounds of waste from landfills and incinerators;
keeping toxins such as lead, mercury and cadmium from contaminating
conserving natural resources by allowing valuable materials to be reclaimed and reused
From the US-EPA
E-waste management is critical due to the toxic chemicals present in electronic devices.
Take a moment to reflect on these questions.
Where does my old phone/computer/printer go after I’m done with it?
What happens to the lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium in it?
If it is recycled/re-purposed, who is doing it?
Research/Reading:
How do I know if items are being responsibly recycled?
What is NYS Law?
The NYS Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act
Manufacturers provide free and convenient recycling of electronic waste to most consumers in New York state.
OCRRA’s guide to e-waste and Free Drop Offs?
How to dispose of other hazardous waste?
Action:
Recycle obsolete phone/computers/printers/DVDs/monitors etc. OCRRA website lists various convenient sites – Staples and Best Buy Items are reused if possible if not recycled in environmentally safe manner (e-Stewards Certified)
Recycle old batteries – accepted at Wegmans
Recycle Old TV’s – Both CRT and flat screens are accepted at Salvation Army – only one per visit.
Extend the life of your devices – Do you really need that new phone?
Laudato Si’ Lenten Journey
1:BEAUTY OF CREATION | 2:FOOD & HEALTH | 3:HUNGER & WANT | 4:E-WASTE | 5:CLIMATE CHANGE | 6:MOVING FORWARD
