#electronic-waste

#electronic-waste

All the world's discarded phones, bricked laptops, and other trashed electronics are collectively a treasure trove of rare earth elements (REEs).

Every solar array, battery system, and EV charger installed over the past decade will eventually need to be decommissioned. Yet there's no unifying system to handle that flow of materials-no operating system for the reverse supply chain that the circular economy depends on. While Americans recycle 97% of vehicles, we recycle less than 20% of electronics, leaving valuable critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and gold to languish in warehouses or end up in landfills.

They were among the hottest gadgets of the 2010s. But Apple has classed three more of its popular products as 'obsolete' - barely a decade after their release. Owners still holding on to these devices will be without support if something goes wrong with them. That's because the tech giant does not provide any hardware services for an obsolete product. All Apple products go through three categories - current, vintage, and obsolete - in the space of their relatively short lifespan.

Americans now throw away an incredible number of these disposable vapes: nearly 500,000 every day, or about 5.7 vapes per second.

The move to USB-C means iPhone owners can finally use the same charger and cable for their iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and a slew of other gadgets.