In the late 1980s, when I was working for a recycling non-profit in Boston, I took a call from a concerned MIT physical plant employee. The university was doing a good one by replacing several hundred white old-school toilets, replacing them with a water-conservation type of toilet.
It seemed like such a waste, the person said, to throw these in a dumpster bound for a landfill or incinerator. Did we think there was someplace to take them as a donation?
I was recently back from 30 months in Africa. While in central Cameroon, I'd helped organize a project to dig a hole for a school outhouse (students and teachers, at the time, had to hike off into the weeds of the savanna). But there was no prospect for running water, and perhaps more importantly, what would the ethics be for donating a water-hungry potty to a country which had serious drinking water issues? I've posted before about the analogy of flush toilets to high tech, and the thousands of deaths from contaminated water in London and Baltimore ("the Great Stink") when flush-potties put the "toshers" out of business.
We've also considered the ethics of used child car seats, and the "planned obsolescence" vs. "child safety recalls" of that market. Having recently been back to Africa, I can tell you that car accidents are common, and child safety seats are unheard of. Donating recalled child safety seats to Africa seems like it might "prime the pump" for local demand. But when I suggested it, a Vermont housewife said I would be killing African children by giving them sub-standard, recalled, used child safety seats.
My children came to Africa with me, and sat in the back with 2 adults, and no car seats.
It seemed like such a waste, the person said, to throw these in a dumpster bound for a landfill or incinerator. Did we think there was someplace to take them as a donation?
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| Used toilets sold in Goma Market (Sahara Desert) |
We've also considered the ethics of used child car seats, and the "planned obsolescence" vs. "child safety recalls" of that market. Having recently been back to Africa, I can tell you that car accidents are common, and child safety seats are unheard of. Donating recalled child safety seats to Africa seems like it might "prime the pump" for local demand. But when I suggested it, a Vermont housewife said I would be killing African children by giving them sub-standard, recalled, used child safety seats.
My children came to Africa with me, and sat in the back with 2 adults, and no car seats.
