Article Date: 19th December 2015
Clutter Nutters
Do you ever get sick of tidying your room and wondering why on earth there is so much stuff taking up all your precious space?
Clothes, college books and all those favourite toys that invoke those irreplaceable childhood memories, yes! But where did all these gadgets come from?
I’ll tell you where – your fancy leather, but increasingly empty, wallet. It is amazing the amount of electronic things that we buy on a regular basis just to keep up with the moving trends. Laptops, iPhones, regular phones, consoles and video games, and often much more than that as well. Because of the constant updated versions of all our favourite 21st Century “toys”, we are forever buying new to keep up that oh so important cool image.
What we usually forget to do, though, is deal with the old stuff. It is duly thrown in the closet beside the PS2, Nokia 3310 and an old Dell or Mac computer.
Time to Take out the Trash
Unfortunately, this example of wastefulness is all too common and it is especially disconcerting when the rewards, both financially and environmentally, are present if the ancient goods were dealt with differently. It has been estimated by experts that the iPhone 4S will accumulate over £200 million worth of e-waste in the next couple of years.
The UK and US have, in particular, been labelled as having poor management in terms of recycling methods in technology whereas Ireland, somewhat surprisingly, has been lauded by those in the know. That isn’t to say more cannot be done.
While the accrued array of gadgets lying around uselessly is clearly bad for the environment, it is hurting your social funds as well. There are many avenues to take while purchasing an upgrade. Many retailers will now offer money back on old phones and laptops in a trade-up service. In addition, websites like Gadget Panda put money in your pocket for sending in all sorts of gadgets and accessories.
Not only do they accept phones and laptops but also more day-to-day items such as CDs, DVDs and video games. Your old parts are then reused to make fresh models of goods such as a new Xbox which, without sounding too much like a hippie, helps the planet a little bit in the long run too.
Digital vs Physical Media
To this notion of being green, what are the advantages of digital downloads as opposed to physical media?
Well, in terms of CDs, DVDs, games and computer software, this is already in the process of happening as all of the above are becoming readily at hand in an increasingly easy manner online.
It is hard not to believe that downloads will take over most of physical media in the next couple of decades – the main obstacle to that being a widespread enough broadband service throughout the world. Until that happens, rummage through that hoard of junk in your room and check out Gadget Panda to see what you can make of it.