Do you or your neighbors trash everything with no shame- including electronics? A recent law passed in Illinois will outlaw throwing away electronics, beginning January 2012.  Consumers will be forced to find a way to recycle them instead. Seems like an easy step towards a greener future, but recycling electronics is a still a new age phenomenon.

In an informal survey of some of my friends, I discovered that about 90% of them did not recycle electronics. Many cited the inconvenience of finding a vendor, others admitted they were too lazy, still others had no idea it was even possible. What happens to their old electronics? For the most part they sit around, gathering dust.  This unscientific research still points towards one conclusion: very few people seem to know that electronic recycling is the way of the future. Even if they do, they don’t realize just how easy it can be (insert plug for YouRenew here). As our world becomes more and more technology- dependent and as our households accumulate more and more electronic waste, it will become imperative to learn how to recycle these gadgets.  Not doing so could jeopardize our environment and our personal health.  Society must begin thinking about how to spread awareness of responsible electronic recycling, and how to make it accessible to all individuals.  How do we get the word out?

Do we reform classroom syllabi? Or, do we start trending #electronicrecycling on Twitter? How do we make it easy to do?  Do we create recycling bins for electronics right next to the ones for bottles and paper? Or, do we need a state law to get us motivated?