It’s hard to explain in simple terms why Circuit City whimpered quietly into bankruptcy this month, but the root causes go back more than 2 decades. Circuit City appears to have continued with a faltering strategy which major competitors like Best Buy did well to avoid.
Once upon a time, you either bought your electronics, cellphones, games and movies from a retail outlet or on rare occasions through a Direct Mail catalog for a value price.
Then came the internet, with wildly overconfident expectations at first, followed by the bubble bursting, and then a more progressive sea change to sold sales, transforming websites like Amazon from loss leaders into major empires of corporate success.
Sometimes the obvious has to be stated in even more obvious terms. You are Circuit City in the 1980s, and you base your concept upon being able to offer less than retail prices by locating your mega stores in less than convenient places - away from high traffic Mall locations. In the 80s and 90s Circuit City’s strategy worked great - customers did travel those few extra miles, and as the gravy rolled in they quickly expanded the model throughout the US.
However, as consumer purchasing trends changed, so too should have the strategy behind their now 700 outlets and 20,000 employees. Staying still with the same 80s model proved to be both short sited and suicidal.
Their inability to solve fundamentals such as basic inventory management was another nail in a slowly descending coffin. Had the recession not hit them so hard, Circuit City may have gone on for a few more painful years. If they had possessed a management team less motivated by short term cost cutting, Circuit City may have made the fundamental restructuring necessary to compete with the likes of Amazon and New Egg.
New Egg is everything that Circuit City should have been in an era of rapidly growing internet electronics sales.
With about 200 employees operating from two 300,000 square foot warehouses on the outskirts of L.A and N.J, New Egg is about as lean as an egg white.
Contrast this with Circuit City’s blubber of 20,000 employees and 700 stores (that’s about 14 million square feet of retail priced real estate) - who do you think is going to be more competitive as more and more customers turned to the convenience of the internet.
As profits began to fail, instead of turning on the key problems of a changing environment, CEO Philip Schoonover decided to turn on his staff instead, replacing key sales staff with cheaper workers. Cutting staff whilst keeping with their traditional strategy also helped to cut customer loyalty.
While New Egg developed their internet site and used offshore programming and database centers in China (Where the very top programmers work for under $5 an hour instead of the average $50 enjoyed in Silicone Valley), Circuit City’s own investment into a more cutting edge e-commerce solution was put aside in favor of a $7 million compensation package to the CEO for his short term cost saving.
When a CEO is awarded options of which the value is directly influenced by short term swings in stock prices, it is hardly surprising that Philip Schoonover and his executives avoided any prickly measures which might damage the value of those stock options.
With hindsight, long term positive measures would have included slashing the 700 stores to perhaps 200 in primer locations alongside rival Best Buy, now the undisputed No.1 electronics retailer. Another positive measure would have been to reinvest Philip Schoonover’s $7M stock options award into a e commerce site which Customers could gravitate to.
Perhaps the most crucial would have been to invest in a state of the art warehouse comparable to Amazon or New Egg, whose low costs enable them to beat their high street competitor. Used as a hub, their crippling inventory management issues would have been solved in an instant.
By ignoring the internet, retailers who rely on offering cheaper prices by locating in secondary tier retail locations are shooting themselves in both feet: On the one hand they lack the convenience of primary tier high street competitors, whilst on the other they cannot hope to compete with internet based giants like Amazon and New Egg, who carve an ever growing market share out of their demise.
In our quest to enable more consumers to trade in their pre-owned goods to save money and help the environment, we are keen give credit (where credit is due) to big companies who help encourage it too.
Sadly though, some for them are doing everything but openly discourage the market. On the one hand they offer a convenience service, but give a terrible trade in price with the other. We previously put the spotlight on Sony’s trade and save program which offers the same service:
The beauty of the service is that you can trade in your used electronics in the same transaction as buying that 52″ LCD TV you’ve dreamed of. In the wake of our harsh economic climate it’s also an ideal way for Best Buy or Sony to turn that dream into a solid sale.
But in reality customers aren’t saving any money at all. Quite from it they are being openly ripped off at a time when consumers can ill afford to be.
Like Gazelle, who operate independently from big name retailers, Best Buy provides a convenient user interface to achieve a fast trade in price. By checking on boxes like ‘Yes it has a power cord’ ‘ yes, it powers on ok’ and ‘excellent condition’, a customer can have a trade-in price estimated within a few seconds - all be it a very bad trade-in estimate.
A customer who is tech savvy enough to take advantage of the Best Buy or Sony Trade in program, shouldn’t have too much trouble in checking out comparable trade in prices on eBay, Amazon or even Craigslist.
Some automated trade in responses were nonsensical, however the example below is a fair example of the kind of mark up they expect from customers.
The gravy days of pre-owned resellers is no more as countless buy sell trade outfits count their losses in the wake of the nation’s tightening recession.
Once upon a time customers were happy to walk into a GameStop and accept a couple of bucks for a quick trade in. Not any more.
Recession hit customers are now paying closer attention to the true value of their trade-ins, and seeking local buyers on Craigslist who’ll pay much more.
Outfits like GameStop, who earn more of their revenue from pre-owned trade-ins than anything else, have seen their pre-owned markets deteriorate as more customers move away. One store manager in Palo Alto said “It’s hard to tell a local customers who needs to sell his games collection that we can offer him 30 bucks when he could sell them the same day on Craigslist for over $100…
“Cutting margins hasn’t really helped. Buyers on Craigslist are willing to pay much more than we can… when customers had money in their pockets, they wouldn’t think twice about trading in 5 games for a new one. Now they need the money and are prepared to look elsewhere for a better offer…” Located primarily in trouble hit suburban Malls, GameStop’s suffering is exacerbated as customers choose the internet over a costly car journey. Enticements such as no tax & free shipping make Spun, Secondspin & soon to be launched trade 2 save, more appealing than ever for customers wanting to get a fair trade for their stuff.
Traditionally, buy sell trade stores have done well in times of recession, however, with store overheads and staffing costs, stores need to make a significant margin of between 50-90% on trade-ins.
Online retailers like SecondSpin and Spun offer the same trade-in service online, but with margins of 50% or more for even the very latest games, they still don’t come close to competing with the direct selling power customers have on Craigslist.
“In a tightening market, pre-owned resellers are going to have to slash their margins or go out of business” says Denis Ramirez, CTO at trade 2 save “… but it’s easier said than done… with stores to run and staff to pay there’s just no tangible way to compete… they’re losing their market the same way Blockbusters lost out to Netflix… only specialist online retailers [with no store overheads]… will attract customers by paying more for trade-ins”
Trade 2 save (www.trade2save.com) - launching at the end of the year - will buy and sell games, movies, computing, electronics and music online only. With no store overhead, trade 2 save will offer customers up to 80% of the resale value of their trade-ins. Combining this with conveniences like free shipping and a warranty is the only way buy sell trade merchants can hope to compete in a new economic environment.
It’s taken a long time, and it’s still going to be a couple of months more possibly, but we are working night and day to get trade 2 save up and running.
It’s been difficult creating a bying and selling website with the level of sophistication as New Egg or Amazon without a team of 20 developers and a multi-million dollar budget. Our small team have big ideas though, and when finally launched, trade2save will stand out among other website where people go to buy or sell pre-owned products, including console games, computer hardware, cellphones, movies and music.
So what’s the site going to look like?
This 60 second trade2save launch video gives a sneak preview on the look and feel of the site along with a quick scan over the functionality. One unique feature of the site is that you’ll be able to buy and sell products in the same transaction. This is because trade2save will buy directly off of you for cash or higher value store credit.
trade2save is the first trading portal where you can either (1) sell instantly to trade2save or (2) add your product with your asking price to the product page.
trade2save charges no listing fees, no transaction fees and no variable closing fees . Trade2save will charge 6% commission on computer products and 12% commission on anything else.
Small Sellers have to pay up to 50% commission to sell on Amazon
Structuring the commission in this way makes it very cost effective for customers to sell one off items like a DVD movie or a cellphone. For example, sell a $5 dvd movie on trade2save to another customer and you’ll receive $4.40.
Sell it on Amazon for example and you’ll receive $2.46. That’s because Amazon and other portals charge a minimum transaction fee as well as as a variable closing cost (on top of the commission).
Small everyday sellers don’t get a good deal and are squeezed out in favor of the more profitable power sellers and merchants who provide ongoing business.
trade 2 save levels the playing field for small one time sellers. Whether your a Power seller or a small seller, you’ll be able to sell (and Buy) knowing that you’re getting a good deal and that there isn’t a middle man double dipping.
If you’d like to become a beta trader on the trade2save website, please let us know. What this will involve is buying products from us and selling products to us in the same transaction. We won’t be charging you and we will give you store credit as a thank you to use when we launch. This is so that we can iron out any problems with the site before we officially launch.
We’ll keep you posted on developments. For now it’s back to programming!!!!!! Doh!
It’s no secret that a primary factor in today’s credit crunch was our inability to say no simply because the geeks at Best Buy said it was OK - why pay now when no one else is!
As house values rose, so too did consumer confidence, borrowing against their primary asset. Buying that 42″ LCD screen to replace the 38″ was a reality, not just a fantasy.
Apple and Sony never had it so good. In those gravy years all the electronics giants were churning out wave after wave of upgrades, sometimes only weeks after the previous models to take advantage of a new sea of credit rich consumer spending.
The consistent weakness of the dollar over the past few years was a sure sign that too many dollars were chasing too much product - and now that the money has gone, the dollar has regained 30% over other major currencies in the past 4 months alone.
So how is this going to create a greener economy?
For starters, the good old days of endless upgrades by the electronics industry is surely over for the foreseeable future. When money was cheap, consumers could ignore that there wasn’t much difference between a 4 Mega pixel and a 5 mega pixel camera - they just wanted the latest one.
Over the last decade, the lifespan of the average electronics product shrunk from 6 years to 3. This more than quadrupled the size of ewaste junk yards still festering in Asia, polluting the water sources of countless villages. As the electronics feeding frenzy dries up, the amount of ewaste on the dumps will diminish significantly.
The beginning of a product’s life also has an impact:
It takes 2 tons of raw material and a rhino’s weight in water to manufacture a new laptop. A drop in demand will spell a significant drop in this energy consumption. What’s more, there will be less freight from China too.
The stock price crash of Sony (among others) is not a second hand reaction to the credit crunch - projections on future supply and demand is more the culprit here as American Consumers simply won’t be interested in that latest gadget anymore.
The pre-owned market will also suffer
It’s a long held belief that in times of recession, you could always turn to the pre-owned market to be bolstered by such conditions. Not anymore. These days, the pre-owned market has come to rely heavily on one type of consumer (trend setter: I must have it today) - selling onto another type of consumer (value conscious: I must have it tomorrow).
In this credit crunch, unlike the crises of 1991 and 2002, the first type of consumer (trend setter) will be wiped off of the map. There simply won’t be the amount of sellers that there were, and this harsh new reality has hit eBay shares (and revenue) in ways that few thought possible.
The pre-owned consumer market will fair better than most, but it will not enjoy the pre-owned gravy train of previous recessions.
Fewer goods being bought new and fewer being manufactured is one definition of a recession. However, a greener economy shares this definition also.
Over the past few years, the consumer electronics industry spent millions on promoting their green credentials, while churning out more CO2 than ever before. Now that the market for their products has fallen, they’ll be saving billions of tons of CO2 for the first time. Most, however, will decline to promote such an astonishing achievement.
I was shocked to discover that each year millions of tons of used gadgets wind up in a bottom draw after only a relatively short time of use.
There’s no escaping that we live in a vibrant consumer economy, and this is no bad thing - those of us who desire today’s most popular gadgets help drive the economy forward.
The problem is that electronics products which still have significant value and usability are finding their way into the bottom draw instead of being returned to the marketplace for resale to someone who is perfectly happy with last years model. After all, it works perfectly well and does the same job.
Instead, a mountain of unused electronics lay idle, eventually becoming too old to be of any use to a potential buyer.
Imagine you bought a new car and left the old one sitting in your garage until it’s value diminished to nothing.
In reality you’d sell it - because the sooner you do the more value you’ll get - this is just as true for gadgets like iPods, cell phones, digital cameras, console games and computers - more and more of these products end up in the bottom draw when they could be sold and re-used before their time is up.
eBay has gone a long way in expanding the second hand market and makes it easier for consumers to sell on their used electronics. But its impact has been relatively small compared to the rising tide of productivity within the electronics industry.
Consumers should be able to sell on their used electronics as readily as they can buy the upgrade - like a car dealership who’ll readily accept your old car in the same transaction. It spares you the hassle of selling it yourself.
So shouldn’t the electronics industry work in the same way?
Well, to some extent it does - GameStop for example, will accept your old gaming console and games as trade ins. However, they give you a faction of the amount you could have gotten on eBay or Craigslist. But not everyone enjoys trawling through the buyers and sellers trying to get a deal - some of us are just too busy - or lazy.
If trading in was made easier, and fairer in terms of the value you received, fewer electronics would end up in a bottom draw. The sad truth is that if you don’t get intrinsic pleasure from the eBay experience and you don’t feel the profit is worth your time and energy, your old gadgets will end up in the bottom draw for some time to come.
I must have - I must have now - the instinctive response when Mummy wheeled your stroller past the Hershey aisle. The same instinct is alive and kicking as thousands line the streets today for the latest in electronics gluttony- the 3G iPhone.(SUPER-SIZE ME!)The iPhone is a phenomenal product - no question - and would have remained a phenomenal product unchanged for another few years - but now it’s just another piece of junk pushed aside for a spanking new upgrade - the 3G iPhone.Let’s face it - features like GPS and 3G could have been included in iPhone 1.0 but were held back to (1) Create further record sales for a later model and (2) ensure that the original iPhone would be perceived to be obsolete as quickly as possible.It’s a prime example of the marketing employed by companies like Apple who have deliberately instigated the e-waste crisis. I call it deliberate because Apple and the other electronics giants are fully aware that greater amounts of e-waste is a direct result of their drive to make previous models obsolete as quickly as they can.How different is the new iPhone 3G from the iPhone 1.0? Surprisingly, not very much. Apart from having 3G and GPS.What else is new?
- Your inbox will be the same and act just as fast and soon you’ll be able to download software to make your iPhone 1.0 email faster and more secure.
- Your old iPhone supports ActiveSync just like the new one.
- Your old iPhone supports all the new enterprise functionality of the Blackberry.
- Plus you’re old iPhone (it’s just crazy to call this thing old) is going to be able to capitalize on all the new applications pouring out thanks to the long awaited SDK release (Software Development Kit).
- 3G streaming video will be faster, but none of the stuff I love to watch on YouTube will be there because of copyright protection - and of course in a Wifi area you’ll have no advantage over iPhone 1.0.
Oh yes- the old iPhone is about 2 mil thinner, so the 3G will feel a little bulkier in your pocket.I find 3G still sluggish compared to the broadband speed I’m used to in most Wifi Cafes… for a good all round review go to engadget. A better alternativeMy advice is to stay with your original iPhone - if you really have to have the 3G model because you totally rely on the Edge for internet connectivity and not Wifi then at least wait 2 or 3 weeks until some mint pre-owned 3Gs are on the market.Then just sell your old iPhone and upgrade. This way you won’t be adding another new cell phone onto the market. Every time you buy a new cell phone you’re adding another onto the e-waste pile - and only 12.5% of that will be recycled.Later in the year we’re going to start trade 2 save. We’ll happily accept the iPhone 1.0 in graded conditions and sell pre-owned 2.0 and 1.0 iPhones in graded conditions, from like new, very good and good (all with a 1 year warranty). By trading in this way you’ll be able to upgrade without breaking the bank and without creating more e-waste.What’s more, trade 2 save will be a pre-owned electronics market place, where you can trade-in all your used electronics in working condition including all electronics, accessories, computer hardware, laptops, PCs, Gaming, Movies and entertainment.
I was interested to read some blatant misinformation in a recent article from Earth911 that 99% of all e-waste is recycled.
Because according to the US EPA only 12.5% of disposed e-waste is recycled (Municipal Solid Waste In the United States, 2005 Facts and Figures, October 2006). And for good reason - 87.5% of it is non-recyclable!
Only 12.5% of the consumer electronic products bought were “recovered” in 2005. This compares with an average recovery rate of 32.1% for all other categories
Important Fact about E-Waste and Recycling that the green coalition of electronics manufacturers don’t want you to read.
These are quantifiable statistics concerning the issues of electronic waste and the ongoing e-waste recycling methods currently deployed. All facts and figures are backed by source and where possible I have made a link to the original data. These facts and figures were originally compiled for both legislators as well as advocates of environmental policy studies. Since its compelation in 2006, the statistics have been updated where possible. This list will be updated as new statistics are released.
Research includes Facts and figures from the Electronics TakeBack Coalition (2006) last updated in June 2008
What is the latest estimates of E-waste expansion globally?
The estimated amount of extra e-waste created each year is 400 million units
At the current growth rates 3-4 billion units will be scrapped from now until 2010. This equated to an average of 400 million units plus a year. (International Association of Electronics Recyclers 2006)
More than 130,000 computers are trashed EACH DAY in the USA
Today, this estimate is more like 250,000. This previous estimate was drawn up by Gartner in 2003.
In their Electronics Recovery Recycling Baseline Report in 1999, the National Safety Council predicted that there could be up to 500 million obsolete computers in the US by 2005. This estimate has been confimred by Gartners findings in 2005.
More than 20 million computers and televisions are added to home storage each year.
This means that a huge amount of e-waste is out there but currently being stored in people’s homes.
According to the EPA about 57 million PCs and TVs are bought by households and businesses each year in the United States. These don’t necessarily replace the older versions of the same electronic. This is particularly true with products such as Cellphones which notoriously stay in a bottom draw for some years. Consumers (both business and household) frequently store their retired products.
Experts agree that the average home will be hoarding three or more units somewhere in their home. However, this figure is much bigger with businesses holding older computers. Up to 24 million TVs and PCs are added to their storage each year. This storing or hoarding is predicted to accelerate thanks to new Plasma and LCD TVs. New digital broadcasting are likely to negate any resale value old TVs might have.
Cell phones
Over 130 million mobile phones or cell phones are trashes each year (USA)
This equates to more than 2.5 million tons of e-waste (2005)
And contrary to figures published by the industry, nearly 90% of this waste in irreclaimable.
2.6 million tons of e-waste was generated in 2005, and the EPA notes that only 12.6% was recycled:
As in recent previous updates of this report, generation of selected consumer electronic products was estimated as a subset of miscellaneous durable goods. In 2005, an estimated 2.6 million tons of these goods were generated. Of this, approximately 330,000 tons of selected consumer electronics were recovered for recycling. Selected consumer electronics include products such as TVs, VCRs, DVD players, video cameras, stereo systems, telephones, and computer equipment.“
Each year up to 50 million tons of e-waste get dumped
Some 20 to 50 million metric tonnes of e-waste are generated worldwide every year, comprising more than 5% of all municipal solid waste. When the millions of computers purchased around the world every year (183 million in 2004) become obsolete they leave behind lead, cadmium, mercury and other hazardous wastes. In the US alone, some 14 to 20 million PCs are thrown out every year. In the EU the volume of e-waste is expected to increase by 3 to 5 per cent a year. Developing countries are expected to triple their output of e-waste by 2010.
E-waste is the fastest rising waste stream in the US
The amount of consumer electronic actually rose by 8% from 2004 to 2005 to 2.63 million tons, a higher rate than any other category of waste. This is at a time when all other sources of waste are falling.
Location and Numbers of Old Electronics
How Much Electronic Waste Gets Recycled or Stockpiled?
Only 12.5% of disposed e-waste is recycled
Only 12.5% of the consumer electronic products bought were “recovered” in 2005. This compares with an average recovery rate of 32.1% for all other categories
68% of consumers stockpile
“68 percent of American stockpile their old computer equipment at home.”
9% of all products sold between 1980 and 2004 are still in storage
Source: EPA “Electronics Waste Management in the US: Preliminary Findings. Presentation by Clare Lindsay, U.S. EPA, Office of Solid Waste to the E-Scrap Conference in Austin, TX, October 18, 2006. These are preliminary numbers (still under review) to be presented in a final report by the EPA in 2007.
Of all products sold between 1980-2004, almost half are still in use either by the first or subsequent owners.
• About 42 percent have already been managed via recycling or disposal.
• 9 percent are being stores or hoarded
• Half of these are TVs
• A quarter of these are PCs
• A little over 20% percent were re-used by a second owner.
Sales of Electronics
a. Sales in Computing
In 2007 worldwide computer sales reached 260 million. Over 67 million were bought in the US.
267.7 million computers were sold globally in 2007, up 32 million from 2006 (IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker). 67 million of these were sold in the USA. These include Desktops, Notebooks, Laptops, Ultra Portables or Mobile Computers and x86 Servers. This oes not include hand helds such as PDAs.
An estimated 430 million computers will be sold in 2012
This year, in 2008, it is estimated by industry analysts that over 300 million computers will be bought, with over 70 million going to the US. This will increase to 430 million by 2012,(85 million in the US)
b. Sales of TVs
This year we bought 3.9 MILLION TVs for the SUPERBOWL alone!
National Retail Federation says we’ll be purchasing 4 million TVs just for this year’s 2008 SUPERBOWL. That’s up more than 50% from last year. In 2006 in the same period we bought 1.7 million.
In 2008 32 million digital TVs wil be sold in the US
As of December 2007 over 50% of US households now own a digital television. (The Consumer Electronics Association)
In 2007 $25 manufacturers made BILLION on digital TVs in the US.
According to new CEA sales projections, manufacturers are expected to announce an average of 11 percent revenue growth in excess of $25 billion in 2007 from digital TV sales. Additional rises of 13 percent revenue and 17 percent unit sales increase is estimated for 2008 (CEA).
Global TV sales in excess of 50 million a year
TV sales reached 50.6 million units per year (Q4 2006 to Q3 2007). TV revenues were over $26 billion for that period.
83% of 50”+ screens are sold to the US
c. Sales of cell phone or mobiles
Globally over one billion cell phones were sold in 2006
A new milestone was reached in 2006, with over one billion cellphones shipped and sold that year. (IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker). That’s a 22.5% rise from 2005
By 2008, cell phone usage is expected to reach two billion (UN).
In the US the amount of cell phone subscribers increased from 340,000 in 1985 to 180 million in 2004. Globally, cell phone sales have increased from 100 million units in 1997 to 780 million units in 2005.
Cell phone sales are projected to exceed 1 billion units per year in 2009, with an estimated 2.6 billion cell phones in use by the end of that year (USGS).
We purchased more than $160 BILLION consumer electronics in 2005
“15 percent of this spend was made online (CE) a jump of 5% from 2004, according to a study released today by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®. “
Global consumer electronics sales was $618 BILLION in 2005
What is recoverable from recycling consumer electronics?
Gold:
One ton of e-waste from PCs has more gold in it than 17 t of gold ore.
Resources Used in Electronics Manufacturing
It takes 530 pounds of fossil fuels, 48 pounds of chemicals and 1.5 tons of water to produce 1 single PC with its monitor
The UN study found that making a PC and monitor uses 240 kg (530 pounds) of fossil fuel, 22 kg (48 pounds) of chemicals and 1.5 tonnes of water. This is more than the weight of a rhinoceros or a car (Kuehr and Williams, 2003). Making consumer electronics is an extreme burden not only on the environment but also on the demand for fossil fuels. This far exceeds any other household or business product.
Does reusing and re-selling pre-owned computers create more jobs than disposal?
WALL-E is one of the better animations to come out of the Disney Pixar creative collaboration.
It’s a heart warming tale of WALL-E, a Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class unit. The lovable robot manages to stay functional after 700 years of service by recycling bits of other WALL-E robots which have perished over the centuries of cleaning up the Earth.
A thousand years earlier in the 21st Century, the Buy ‘N’ Large corporation had (miraculously) taken over every single service on Earth, including the government. They are to blame for the rampant over production and subsequent pollution that ensues - turning Earth into a wasteland of e-waste and junk - void of humans, who generations later, remain living lethargically on a space cruiser many light years away.
The Buy ‘N’ Large corporation is a more acceptable bad guy to portray than the dozens of consumer brands who benefit from today’s throw away society.
A more realistic landscape (the one we see today in Asia) would be the mountains of e-waste filled with broken Sony plasma screens, Panasonic DVD players and colored iPod shells. This later imagery would never have gotten passed Disney’s largest stock holder.
The real message to be taken from this summer’s No. 1 blockbuster is that most of what makes up e-waste today is non recyclable and has absolutely nowhere to go.
only about 12% of the e-waste we produce is recycled. The rest will joint the mountains of e-waste which one day might challenge the Himalayas.
We see the pictures of Chinese villagers picking their way through circuit boards and recovering the poisonous alloys and by-product, but this only makes up about 12% of the junk that we ship to them. The rest stays strewn across the countryside on e-waste dumps which closely resemble the make believe ones depicted in WALL-E.
If the electronics we produce today are largely non recyclable, why is the drive towards recycling them so prevalent, when a drive to re-use them or make them last longer goes relatively unheard?
So long as the green back is more powerful than the green lobby, more funds will be driven towards green perception than green reality - The burying of the National Computer Recycling Act is testament to this. Only when every bit of electronics is recyclable (and this includes Xbox, Playstation, Wii too) will we be able to start slowing the acceleration of e-waste dumping.
Until the Utopian vision of green electronics magically appears - which will be decades away at best - consumers need to look at other ways to lower the rising tide of e-waste: Buy a pre-owned or used computer, digital camera, cell phone or any electronics device when you can.
When you buy something new you add to the e-waste pile - when you buy used you don’t.
Sell pre-owned or used as well. If you don’t use your old computer, DVD player, cell phone, digital camera or camcorder any more, trade it in or sell it pre-owned or used so that someone else will buy it from you instead of buying it new and adding to e-waste themselves.
For additional trust, buy used off of a pre-owned retailer who is willing to give a one year warranty on your purchase. That way, you have as much confidence as buying new.
With companies like trade 2 save launching to give consumers more confidence in the pre-owned and used consumer electronics market, we hope that more consumers will take matters into their own hands and prevent the e-waste catastrophe so beautifully animated in WALL-E.
