Why I Started Recycling Electronics

Hi! Welcome to my first blog post!

I have been collecting used electronics for almost almost two years now. And I have no intentions on stopping. People sometimes ask me why I spend so much time collecting old phones, laptops, and other electronics. It all started when I started noticing that a lot of my friends had old devices at their homes that they weren't using. Most of them still worked. When I asked what they were going to do with them, the answer was usually, "I don't know." Some said they would probably throw them away eventually.

That didn't feel right to me because I have always been taught that we should not waste anything. This seemed like not only a waste of an old,  yet still functioning device, but also extra waste in our landfill. 

Around the same time, my older brother had recently started volunteering with the Electronics Recycling Association (ERA). I decided to join him, and together we started Earthly Bros. Since then, we've been collecting used electronics from people in our community and making sure they get reused or recycled properly.

This photo was taken during one of ERA's pickups from our house earlier this month. On that day, we donated more than 80 devices that people in York Region no longer needed. That is on top of the approximately 300 devices that we had donated already in the previous couple of months. And we are not done yet.

I know I can't solve the e-waste problem by myself. But if one person can save a few devices, and another person does the same, it starts to add up. On this note, I would like to thank all the people who donate their used electronics to us so that we can then donate them to the ERA. 

Thanks for reading my blog post. I hope you'll follow along as I share what I'm working on, what I'm learning, and maybe inspire you to recycle a device or two too.