The topic I have chosen for my capstone project is electronic waste, or e-waste. I plan to focus on increasing awareness of the hazards of e-waste and sharing a few ways that consumers can help reduce the impact of it on the environment. I will start by listing common types of devices that need to be recycled by special methods, and can’t be simply thrown away, such as computers, cell phones, and most devices with a battery. I want to share some common local recycling programs, and try to get an idea of where they take the e-waste to be processed. Even when devices are recycled through proper recycling centers, they can still end up in foreign countries where people work in camps to disassemble them for scrap metals and other valuable components before throwing the rest in a landfill. This brings large health risks for the workers, many of whom don’t realize how dangerous it is. My two media objects will be an infographic and a video remix. The infographic will show some statistics about e-waste, common hazardous chemicals, and a map of countries where many of these devices end up. The remix will highlight news stories about recycling programs and options available to consumers for properly recycling their old devices. I also want to show that there are other options to throwing something away, such as repairing it if it is broken, giving/selling it to someone else, or finding other uses for the device. All of those are good alternatives to tossing something in a landfill.

https://twitter.com/miketempdtc201/status/926143484175646720

https://twitter.com/miketempdtc201/status/926141972175208448

https://twitter.com/miketempdtc201/status/926138601150095360

https://twitter.com/miketempdtc201/status/926138553720979456

https://twitter.com/miketempdtc201/status/926138508523085824