Which "E-Waste" Policy to Celebrate Today?

Two important things happened this week.  One happened in a city which would forever stop the export of used computers in developing countries, reported by CNET.   The other happened in the City which was the single biggest importer of used computers from Vermont in the past ten years. The buyers were the focus of a report by the New York Times, below.

The largest e-waste shredder on the continent is celebrated and twittered by the obsolescence class.  TONIGHT, I DON'T CELEBRATE THE SHREDDER.  THERE IS REASON TO CELEBRATE TEN YEARS OF USED COMPUTER EXPORTS, WITH THE REPAIR AND REUSE CLASS...

Look, a 1/2 inch capacitor

The self-declared newest "state of the art" "ewaste" facility arrived impressively, colored yellow and blue, like the US Cavalry.   The engineers are all reputable, good people.  The investors are driven by the need to service other good people who have no tolerance for accusation of pollution.  Millions of dollars to turn your asset liabilities into this shredded mess.

A Modern Marvel of Western technology.  Had a  tiny fraction of this investment been given to the Geeks of Color, the Las Chicas, the repairpeople in Senegal, to Accra, to Cairo, they would have produced cleaner scrap with hand disassembly.  They would have harvested the small parts like heat sinks and chips, as they do in Asia, and they would have gotten 30% tested working product, creating jobs and an affordable "e-waste" infrastructure in their home countries.

HOURS AWAY, MILLIONS CELEBRATE TEN YEARS OF USED COMPUTER EXPORTS...