No, this is not a life metaphor: I literally have some dead batteries, and I wanna get rid of them. I know I’m not supposed to throw them in the garbage\u2014and so they just sit around with some of the other e-waste I’ve accumulated over the years, including: light bulbs, an old TV, a ginormous computer monitor I’ll never again use, a broken digital camera, a broken DVD player, a completely out-of-date laptop, a ruined guitar cable, a few pairs of crappy headphones.<\/p>\n
Having a list like this is a sign of the times. Unfortunately, I completely missed that in January my own city councilmember, Suja Lowenthal, organized an e-waste drive that collected over 18 tons of the stuff.1<\/sup><\/strong> (Not that it does you any good now, but you can read about it here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n I do know that Goodwill is a state-authorized collector of major e-waste (e.g., TVs, computer monitors). Being that I don’t have a car, this isn’t an ideal solution for me. So I tried All Green Electronics Recycling<\/a>, a “full service electronics recycler” that in some instances will come to your residence or business and cart away everything from computers to ink and toner cartridges at no charge. But well over a week ago I filled out their e-form documenting the stuff I’d like them to take, gave them my e-mail address and phone number, etc., but I haven’t heard back.<\/p>\n The best local resource I’ve found on disposing of e-waste is the Environmental Services Bureau<\/a>, a treasure trove of information on all manner of related subjects. They even have a special section on disposal of Hazardous Waste<\/a>. (If you want to get info the old-fashioned way, give them a call at (562) 570-2876.) This is where I learned that unbroken light bulbs can be dropped off at any Home Depot or Ikea.<\/p>\n But all they tell me about my battery problem is that I have to drive out to San Pedro to get rid of them. Really? Without a better option, I’m afraid even a lot of people who know batteries shouldn’t go in the garbage will still throw them there. <\/p>\n Perhaps it’s a minor point. Perhaps all of this seems insignificant in and of itself. But as a society we’re finally coming to grasp that the way we’ve traditionally dealt with refuse is unsustainable and against our collective best interest. And so every little bit helps\u2014even just disseminating information through conversation\u2014in establishing a new, better way of life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Footnotes<\/span> No, this is not a life metaphor: I literally have some dead batteries, and I wanna get rid of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5380"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5380"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
1<\/strong><\/sup>Does anybody know how well publicized this was?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"