A clip from 60 Minutes (link provided below), played in my Fundamentals of Sustainability class, really caught my attention today. It was about the recycling of computer monitors. While computer monitors don't necessarily have anything to do with interior design, sustainability does. This clip showed that a company in Colorado who promised to properly recycle e-waste here in the U.S. was actually shipping it overseas and dumping it in China. This e-waste is toxic and is negatively effecting the Chinese people it is being dumped on. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure this isn't recycling...seems like we're just dumping our waste on someone else.Isn't recycling and sustainable efforts supposed to be beneficial to our Earth as a whole? Not just our own backyard?
So as far as the design world goes, I think this is something we all need to be aware of. Do your research, make sure companies that claim to be "green", "sustainable", "eco-friendly", etc. are in fact holding true to what they say. I think it's our responsibility as designers to make sure that our sustainability efforts aren't counter productive.*60 Minutes clip: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4586903n
It really starts to make you wonder how all of our recycled goods are being broke down and handled. Or if everything is really being dumped in the end.
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