Monthly Archives: October 2009 - Page 2

“Business Daily” reports on growing ewaste problem in Kenya

Posted by on October 12, 2009 Comments Off

Posted just today, www.businessdailyafrica.com reported on the major warning signs of improper e waste dumping and handling in Nairobi, Kenya.

This is both a major concern reflecting the negligence and ambivalent attitudes of countries which export large amounts of ewaste, and a major failure on the part of the Kenyan government to allow such toxic material into heavily populated areas. According to this article Nairobi’s largest dumping site, Dandora, is accepting huge amounts of e waste in which the most popular disposal method (burning) is leading to already noticeable increases in lead poisoning in children.

It seems each day here at trade2save we stumble upon another “developing” nation which is exported our own potentially lethal garbage. While the commonly known ewaste dumping grounds in the world such as rural China and India are bad enough, it seems that the rapidly amassing quantities of ewaste are now happily being sent out to all over the world.

Here’s a link to the full article

Apparently attacking investigators/reporters is good PR for Chinese ewaste barons….

Posted by on October 9, 2009 Comments Off

Happy Friday to all our readers from trade2save!

I will keep our blog short and sweet today. I found the following video on my daily search for recent ewaste news/legislation/events. While this video is from last year, it is shocking to see how hard people will try to keep the environmental and humanitarian implications of e waste hidden from consumers.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/60-minutes-reporter-attacked-in-chinese-ewaste-pit.php

Calling all gamers!

Posted by on October 8, 2009 Comments Off

As pricing and repricing our inventory continues throughout this week, it has come to our attention that trade2save could use more video games! Believe it or not, there is a good market in used games, and trade2save is much more than willing to prove that by giving you a fair price unlike some retailers…*cough* *gamestop* *cough*

I know all you gamers out there have tons of titles gathering dust in your closets or game binders, so come take a look at what we’re offering for them and feel good that your games will be getting a first class spa treatment and then finding a new home. Take a look at our prices and if your game isn’t listed shoot us an email and we’ll get straight back to you.

Happy gaming!

“4th bin” ewaste design contest winners!

Posted by on October 7, 2009 Comments Off

Valiant Technology’s has posted its winners and finalists for its recent competition to design a recycle bin and logo specifically for ewaste, or “the 4th bin.” So far plans are to release said 4th bins in New York and eventually expand nationally,  so we here in California may have a while until we actually see these bins implemented.

Regardless, congradulations to the winners and all contestants! Hopefully these ewaste bins will be a success and encourage a better national policy towards ewaste.

The winning bin design by “Springtime” firm:

The winning symbol by “Two Twelve” firm:

New FTC blog legislation could help fight conflicting interests

Posted by on October 6, 2009 Comments Off

The internet is a mixed blessing. While the potential for limitless information is at the average users fingertips, this comes at the price of countless innacuracies, biases, misinformation, etc.

With blogs reporting everything from underground news to product reviews, questions of outside influence have been hard to address thanks to the annoymity of sponsors and “donators” to blogs. This is all about to change however, as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made it now a requirement for Blogs to publically announce where they receive sponsorship, payment, and freebies from, giving readers an earnest look at who is really contributing to a blogs’ reports.

This is a great success in revealing conflicting interests of large scale, green tech and environmental blogs, as starting December 1st all will be forced to reveal whether any connections with tech companies exist. While trade2save honestly hopes that no controversial relations to tech giants or corrupt e-”recycling”  exist, at least the public will now know where they are receiving their info from.

On another note, naturally trade2save doesn’t expect you to believe everything we say without a second thought. Everything should always warrant a second look and opinion, so do research on our claims, and if we ever report something which you can refute let us know! Trade2save is as eager to learn as all our readers are, and if any of our numbers are off we would love to know. Haha it’s really a win-win, since if ewaste is in fact decreasing, our goal of reducing it is being accomplished =D

Full news article here

SF Chronicle publishes ewaste blurb

Posted by on October 5, 2009 1 comment

Today’s chronicle featured a small article in the tech/business section regarding recent debates on ewaste legislation.

In a nutshell,  the article outlines state actions requiring the recycling of old electronics by consumers and companies alike, even emphasizing that companies would be obligated to take on “orphan” waste from out of business manufacturers and individuals

Corporations are firing back against such costly laws and trying to get a laxer policy which would distribute the responsibility/costs more to gov and individuals. At the moment, while many national e-waste bills have been introduced to congress, all have been shot down in lieu because of the conflicting interests of corporations.

While we hear at trade2save think it’s great that such events are at least being reported in major newspapers, only one brief sentence makes a cursory mention to the exportation of toxic, American ewaste. Specifically, there is no mention of our own domestic “recycling” companies involvement with such exportation, which still ultimately leaves readers in the same uninformed perspective as before.

Until consumers can empathize with the environmental and humanitarian importance of recycling/reselling/reusing electronics, there shall always be resistance and resentment to our own California ewaste recycling fee, making a quick trip to the dumpster an often much more lucrative option than paying to recycle.

Link to the article

An Introduction: More than just cleaning up the garbage

Posted by on October 2, 2009 4 comments

While trade2save has strove to ensure consumer awareness on the effects of ewaste, the cycle of both environmental and humanitarian violations surrounds all aspects of consumer electronics, including electronic devices’ production.  Alongside the heinous crimes being committed by the international community in the exportation, dumping, and unsafe handling of obsolete electronics comes the intentionally overlooked, controversial process of acquiring materials needed for electronics production. This section of our blog is dedicated to articles, posts, and references regarding a war that has claimed nearly 6 million lives, the resource war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

End of the starting week, a new page for t2s

Posted by on October 2, 2009 Comments Off

This beautiful San Francisco morning marks the conclusion of the very first week for trade2save’s new recruits. As trade2save enters the next phase of its electronics business and ewaste plan, time for expansion has begun and the regular staff has grown by 5 new, bright eyed employees. While each of the interns has a general field of focus, each shoulder the responsibility of the flexibility to fulfill multiple roles needed to create a thriving startup. With the added man/woman power has come measurable progress, as trade2save is proud to announce the launch of its new social media program! Haha by that what I mean to say is that I am now making sure trade2save stays up to date with both the rapidly shifting media world and our customers. Check us out and add us to your various networks:

www.twitter.com/trade2save  Tweets on our day to day going-ons at the office

www.twitter.com/trade2save_com Tweets on our hottest deals, stay in touch to find a real steal!

Our facebook page Keep up with trade2save news and become a fan!

Our facebook group Meet our staff, join the group and stay in contact with trade2save

Overall things are looking up for trade2save, training is underway for each new intern, our new DVD resurfacer has expedited our refurbishing effort literally hundreds of times faster, and our new social media and artistic changes are already improving.

Staff pics and bios to come soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 The new staff! Hard at work (naturally)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our amazing DVD savior, note the radiant, holy glow/aura