e-day – enough to drive you to drink

Tomorrow is e-day, an initiative designed to – excuse the blurb – “raise awareness of the benefits of recycling computers and the hazardous nature of electronic waste (e-waste), while offering an easy way for households and schools to dispose of old computers and mobile phones in an environmentally sustainable manner.”

Sure, all sounds worthy … but disposing in an environmentally sustainable manner at a “drive-through event” (as noted on the e-day website)? You can only take part in this environmentally sustainable event by arriving in one of the most environmentally unsustainable ways possible!

The e-day website even has a scoreboard on which it will proudly highlight how many tonnes of rubbish the nationwide event receives — and how many cars visit!

Now, if somebody could calculate the carbon emissions from the number of cars that visit and then subtract that from the impact of the 1000 tonnes of e-waste expected to be collected, we would have a much clearer picture of the day’s environmental impact.

Last year, 16,000 gas-guzzling cars turned up to drop off waste. I hope the people collecting the waste are given adequate protection from the exhaust fumes.