What a strange title you might think – but I suggest you consider what might be the relation? Well I came to one the other day and it is thus: both are TERRIBLE in terms of their impact on the environment!
For those of you unlucky enough not to have a child/children, you may not realise the amount of waste that is created by these nappies – virtually all are single-use “disposable”, and usually wrapped in a non-degradable bag once used. Now, consider that somewhere between 4-6 nappies are created per child per day (more if the child isn’t well ;-)), and multiply that by the number of babies growing up per country/globally, and you have a MAJOR environmental detractor – thing is though, it all just gets buried, so the environmental timebomb is out of sight, out of mind… right?
Interestingly, mobiles have some similar form – they aren’t easily recycled, people leave them out of sight when they’ve finished using them, and they have some potentially toxic chemicals in them. Whilst there are not the same volume of units being buried in the ground, there is an environmental threat there based on the number that are “in stasis”.
In the Mobiles’ favour, there are now a number of schemes that allow you to get rid of your old mobile for money. The idea (I understand) is that devices are then re-purposed for developing countries, and can continue to be used. However, I wonder as to the efficacy of this process – mainly because I read more than one report since the start of the year that PCs which are supposed to be “re-purposed” are actually DUMPED in developing countries – in or on the ground…
It all sounds a bit negative doesn’t it – neither Nappies or Mobiles are potentially great environmentally, and whilst they have their differences (you wouldn’t hold a used nappy to your ear, would you!), there are similarities in the lack of decent solutions for disposing of them.
Is there a good answer(s) for processing either of them? I’d be very interested to see what the IntoMobile readers have to say on an issue which isn’t going to bite us now, but may well do in tens or hundreds of years… after all, we reap what we sow, right?