I think that we all have seen the ad for Virgin Mobile’s iPhone availability, and I can’t stand it. Not only is it not funny, it just encourages people to be wasteful. Even though there is a disclaimer on the ad saying not to do this, it feels like we should just laugh at a huge problem of e-waste.

Okay, I have just learned that the United States leads the world in e-waste. Yeah, I am not surprised at that. I mean, we all have cell phones, and getting upgrades practically happen every two years. I usually sell off my old phones, but I can’t imagine that everyone is doing that, just like not everyone recycles their cans or bottles.

Anyway, the StEP initiative states that the US dumped over 9.4 million metric tons of e-waste in the year 2012 alone. This is about 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of e-waste person, four times the global average of 7 kilograms (15 pounds) per person. On a sick note, China only dumped 7.4 metric tons last year.

While I was writing this, I just watched an ad for an Intel notebook/laptop where a guy purposely spills coffee on his old laptop to get a new one. We can’t encourage this mentality. What’s next, is racism going to appear on ads. Seriously, this is where ads like these need to go!

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