If you're old enough to remember when "they" said that computers would revolutionize the workplace by eliminating paper... then you'll get a chuckle out of this.
Paper use is actually UP. Trees are down. Go figure.
The best minds of that day also thought that just 10 room-sized computers would have enough fire power to service all the needs of the entire world. But that's another story for another day. It just goes to show how wrong "they" can be. Today you hold more computing power than that in your hand!
Well, now "they" have come up with an idea that lets your powerful little handheld computer be just a little greener. By "handheld computer" I mean your mobile device. Your cell phone, iPod, PDA (remember them?) or whatever.
It's simple. Clover Technologies has teamed with the US Post Office to collect obsolete mobile devices. And boy, do they have their work cut out for them! "They" estimate there are more than 5B (that's "billion" with a B) mobile devices in use today.
Many of those 5B devices are ending up in municipal dumps where they degrade, destroy water quality, and expensive parts are not recycled.
That's why Clover and the USPS have put mail-back envelopes at 1600 post offices across the country. These postage-paid envelopes allow anyone to ship small electronics to Clover's recycling center where they are broken down into usable parts and then recycled.
So how is it going?
Since 2008 when the program began, Clover has recycled nearly 1 million units.
Now if I can but persuade my husband, the early adapter, to relinquish part of his sizable collection of telephonic treasures, then I will have done my bit this week to save the environment.
Oh yes. No trees died in the writing of this article. Maybe "they" were more right than I'm giving them credit for.
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