Dealing With E-waste (1)

Keeping used gadgets out of the garbage

Gadgets don't seem to last long these days. There's pressure to upgrade everything from TVs to computers to smartphones on a frequent basis. Having cutting-edge gadgets is fine, but the question remains: What happens to all of the old devices?

Unfortunately, a lot of them end up as e-waste, with up to 50 million tons of e-waste filling garbage dumps around the world each year. But a new industry is focusing on recycling such gadgets and offers two benefits.

First, recycling electronic gadgets keeps them out of garbage dumps. Second, new recycling techniques can extract several kinds of precious metals contained in gadgets.

The dangers of e-waste
One of the main concerns with e-waste is that most electronic devices contain toxic substances such as lead or mercury.

Computer monitors, for example, may contain around 6 percent lead by weight. If monitors are left in a dump, these substances could eventually leak into the ground or water supply. Equally troubling, large amounts of e-waste are illegally transported to Third-World countries, where poor youths risk their health to extract the precious metals found within.


Info Cloud
Teaching Topic: First World Problems (第一世界的問題)
Third World countries 第三世界國家, 指的是未開發的國家,
First World countries 第一世界國家, 生活水平高的國家,
現在有一個新的詞 First World problems 第一世界的問題,
指的是在第一世界好命的人所發的牢騷,
其中的問題大多都是芝麻綠豆的小事,
例如:
- Where's the remote? I had to get off the couch to change channels!
- My wallet won't close; there's too much money in it.

Grammar Gym
Having cutting-edge gadgets is fine, but the question remains: What happens to all of the old devices?
the question remains: we still haven't answered or solved this problem
- The billionaire's sons will inherit his money, but the question remains: Who will take over the billionaire's company?
- The lab results show that the man's death was not an accident, but the question remains: Who killed him?

Language Lab
upgrade v.
to make a computer, machine, or piece of software better and able to do more things;
to give someone a better seat on a plane or a better room in a hotel than the one they paid for
- The bank's computer system needs to be upgraded for better security.
- The airline upgraded my seat from economy to business class free of charge.

extract v.
to carefully remove a substance from something which contains it, using a machine, chemical process etc
- The oil was extracted from premium olives in Spain.
- The traditional ways of extracting coal are no longer used.

toxic adj.
- Lots of toxic waste was found in this rural area.
- These workers were unknowingly exposed to toxic substances over a long period of time.

illegally adv.
- Jim was accused of illegally accessing confidential data.
legal
- This house legally belongs to me.
illegal adj.
- It's illegal to sublet your apartment. You must get permission from your landlord.


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