Ever Returned Electronics Back to the Store? Austin Company Turns e-Waste into Profit–and Helps the Deaf Community at the Same Time

I saw a great news article on KXAN recently.  Kate Weidaw of early morning fame did a story on my new favorite company, Image Microsystems.  She reported a story titled Turning Computer Waste into Profit. 

Kate Weidaw of KXAN

It’s really quite wonderful to have this much video out there about the company.  I’m just wondering why I don’t see more media coverage about these two issues.  (This story seemed to resonate, though–it’s been picked up in over 25 additional media markets so far).  I’m curious as to why more markets haven’t written about this or picked it up.  I guess that’s because the world just doesn’t think writing about reducing e-waste, or helping and employing people with disabilities is all that sexy.  That’s why I’m doing everything I can to get the word out about these two very important topics. 

We’ve all bought a printer, cell phone, laptop, or any of a myriad of consumer electronics devices that just didn’t work.  Or maybe it didn’t work like we thought it should.  Or maybe it was simply a problem of not understanding the directions.  Well for whatever reason, we’ve had to return it to the store where we bought it.  I’m sure you’ve never given it a thought–once  you’ve gotten  your money back.  But, what happens to that returned product?  Where does it end up?  Many of those products end up on the secondary market.  That’s great–you know the mantra “repair, reuse, recycle”.  And, if it’s really broken and there is no hope of refubishment–it might just end up in the trash–and ultimately a landfill. 

According to an EPA study completed in 2007, of the 2.25 million tons of televisions, cell phones and computer products ready for end-of-life (EOL) management in the US, 18% (414,000 tons) were collected for recycling and 82% (1.84 million tons) were disposed of, primarily in landfills. Further, EPA estimated that approximately 235 million units sold between 1980 and 2007 were obsolete and in storage, awaiting some method of EOL management.

e-Waste shows a higher growth rate than any other category of municipal waste in the EPA’s more current report.  Overall, between 2005 and 2006, total volumes of municipal waste increased by only 1.2%, compared to 8.6% for e-waste.

Can you belive that?  Obviously we need to think very carefully about what happens to the e-waste here.  We definitely don’t want it to end up overseas in some horrific e-waste dump in a developing country.

Then there’s the problem of incorporating deaf and special needs workers into our mainstream workforce.  Not that many people are doing it obviously–just take a look at these statistics: 

According to the Texas Department of Health and Human services, in the state of Texas alone there are over 3.8 million people who are deaf or substantially hearing impaired.  In just Travis County, 8.8% of the population is deaf or hearing impaired. 

According to the CDC, 37 million people in the US have trouble hearing.  The CDC also estimates that roughly 8.6% of the adult population is deaf or hard of hearing. Extrapolating that to the state of New York for example—based on 2008 numbers—there would be 1,676,166 deaf or hard of hearing people in the state.  If you look at just a few states such as California (3,161,073), Florida (1,612,894), Illinois (1,135,377), Pennsylvania (1,070,552), Ohio (1,010,760), Michigan (880,301), Georgia (852,345), New Jersey (746,709), and Connecticut (301,108), there a lot of people affected. 

The US Department of Education reports that the unemployment rate for working-age adults with disabilities has hovered at 70 percent for over a decade. 

We’re sitting around crying about a 10.2% unemployment rate.  Disabled workers are a lot worse off than that.  Just think about it!  Let’s spread the word and get more people writing about the subject for a change.