Hello Me!
I finally got my self an android mobile phone,after quite sometimes dizzy in picking which mob should I pick.My previous phone,Nokia ,she got faint frequently.Most of the times,it happened when I was on the phone conversation so that I thought the person whom I was talking to was rude to just hang up the phone without saying a proper goodbye.Turned out it was my mob that was suddenly off,so I guess it's the time to change the mob now.I think it's been 6-8 yrs now,the mob is probably tired already ;) So this is a pic of my new mob(err...sort of :D keep your curiousity..just look at that bow earplug cap only pls :D).And another one is my"retired"phone:
After the retirement of my old mob,really...it got me thinking..where will all this electronic junks end?Of course I don't want a stupid answer such"they all will go to trash can!". Yes,trash can...but then where all of this electronic junks go after they all go to the landfill?You know,all of those electronic junks are not degradable. I remember a documenter(actually it's my fave documenter all the time)"Vu du ciel"about a city in China,Guiyu where the citizen occupation is to manually recycle electronic junks.They disassembled mainboard into pieces,dissolve some of the component with acid,mercury so that they can gain gold from it.
Circuit board baking-courtesy
Black water from the burning coal-courtesy
Pretty much the same process as what some ppl in India do to get(actually it's more to"gather"than "get")gold from city water dumpster.And for you the beauty fans,mercury can dissolve gold,even make it white.No wonder if it can also makes your skin white,or your cotton become white in just minutes.Well..with an extra health cost that you have to bear,of course!:)
Such a risky thing that those ppl do.In that city in China,the people got cancer by that.Even kids have high lead level.Interestingly is that..the electronic junks that they dissasemble actually comes from countries outside China,one of them is from US.Now that makes me really wonder,where will all of these electronic junks in my country go or end? With this hysteria of internet and all mobile communication,now with 10 USD you can even get a mobile phone!
People get excited of all new technology,and the price even gets cheaper by day.That will mean one=more electronic junks.And tragically,the coltan that is used for the main component of electronic device is mined from Congo,where there's"an almost modern day slavery"system's going on.This is the fact,some countries in Africa are good sources for rare and precious minerals like coltan,diamond,and gold.Often,the mines are owned by either rebels or landlord,and they got the workers through modern day slavery,even child ones!.If you see Leonardo's movie"Blood Diamond"(oh umm..i'm his biggest fan fyi.I watch almost all of his movies,marvin's room,basketball diaries,total eclipse,etc etc :p),that's how it works there.And sadly,it still happens untill today.So yes,there're deffy bloody coltan as well!
So really,I wish each of us will understand this and using/buying electronic devices wisely.Whatever electronic devices that we use now,it's been through many things,from the possibility of modern day slavery,and even after we throw it,there're still many people get suffers from that.As for me,I'll use my devices'till it doesn't work anymore,can't be fixed,and after years of using.This way I can minimize the electronic junks number.
Another junk that become my concern is this:plastic! Especially the plastic bags one.Couple of months ago,I declutter my home kitchen and found out this hell of plastic bags! In indonesia,sellers are very generous when it comes to giving plastic bags.It's more like a manner for them to give plastic bags for buyers.And the buyers also, don't care about the impact of plastic bags.Some of them will even considerate the seller as"stingy"if the seller didn't give plastic bag. If you buy anything in Indonesia,even if it's just 1 pc of pencil,the seller will give you smallest plastic bag for that!And suddenly,plastic now become a very common thing in every aspect of my life!I see plastic here,plastic there.All about plastic!
say hi to Bolu,my cat :)
For me personally,I have love and hate relationship with plastic.Especially plastic bags,what I HATE the most will be the smallest size of plastic bag!For me the only thing it will be usefull is only when someone is going to vomit on public place,there you can find it usefull.As for medium and big size plastic bags,I do need it as the bag for my trashes.Really,I don't want to add more plastic bags to the landfill so that now I've been trying my best to bring my own foldable bag to replace the plastic ones.Total I have 5 different foldable bags in different size and shape.
The problems of this foldable bag are these:
1.Foldable bags need to be as slimmest as it can so that it can fit in my tote/sling bag.
2.At the same time it has to be as strong as possible to hold heavy stuffs/groceries.
3.Sometimes I forgot to put this bag(bcoz I haven't emptied the previous content from previous purchases)on my bag.So this is the time when I need plastic bag that the store gives me.
1st time I bought unbrandred foldable bags,and the seam was ripped due to heavy carriage that I carried. Then I bought Envirosax.Envirosax is deffy better than those unbranded ones,it can carry heavier weight. However,envirosax also has its own limit.My envirosax isn't ripped off,but I'm affraid it will since I started to see a space on its seam.So,now what I can do is this:
1.Avoid the smallest plastic bag.When the items that I buy can fit in my bag,I'll just put it there.Or,if it isn't but I bring car,so I'll just carry the items with my hands and then put it on my car.Or else,I'll just put it on my
clothes pocket.
2.Ask for cartoon box when buying big groceries.
That's for non food packaging.When it comes to food,things will be even more complicated.Let's check this recycling symbol 1st:
Some of plastic types there leach BPA(Bisphenol A).The most"safe"type of plastic is the one with recycling symbol no.5,which means the plastic is made of polypropylene(PP).The most obvious one that contains BPA is PolyCarbonate(PC) with recycling number 7.However,not all no.7 is PC plastic since the no.7 is identifed as"other"which means anytype of plastic other than no.1-6,will be on no.7.As for now,I've converted majority of my kitchen,food and dining utensils into non plastic ones. I converted into stainless,glass,ceramic,or aluminium.Plastic will be the least of my choice,I'll choose it when no other alternative available,and what I'll use is Polypropylene(PP),and certainly I don't heat/put it in heat condition as plastic and heating aren't a good match.When a plastic is heated,it'll release toxin. So for your own goodness,don't heat/put heated food in plastic container pls..
My reusable water bottle,what I currently have are made of : Stainless Steel,Aluminium,and PP plastic.
-Stainless steel is the best one,unfortunately it's the heaviest one to carry T_T..
-Aluminium isn't the best option here as it needs to be lined,usually with plastic resin to keep aluminium leaching into our drinks.And often,the plastic resin contain BPA.In US,Sigg had a problem with their BPA inner lining.
-PP plastic,this is the lightest one,however it is..plastic!
Knowing(and memorizing)that recycling symbol is important.There you can know how to treat plastic based on their types(especially in food handling),and from purchasing an over priced plastic products.I said this because I hardly understand,why a box of PP plastic can be priced 3x(even more) than the same other PP plastic,just because it's labeled under international MLM brand?This is absolutely ridiculous,and ppl from the MLM claimed that their PP box is either:odorless,or airless container so that the foods in it will stay fresh all the time.At the same time,I find other brands on the market with price half than that,made from the same PP,and technically designed better as it's trully airless since it uses silicone on the cap to make it sealed way better. Really,you should know what you're buying or else you become a target of stupid claims..Err..or at at least,stupid price!
I've also been trying my best to always bring water from home instead of buying bottled water when I'm traveling.Reason no.1:I don't like the PET plastic that most bottled water have.Do you notice it,if you put that PET bottled water under the sun heat,then the water in it will smell so plastic?This is my main reason why I don't like bottled water. Reason no.2:to reduce more plastic garbage on landfill. Reason no.3:check this picture by Allison Morris from Education Database Online.She e-mailed me and asked whether I'd be interested in putting this graphic on my blog,and of course I said I would!!Thank you Allison for this pic btw,it'll help readers to understand more about the topic :) Click the picture for bigger picture and clearer view:
Right,it takes much energy and resources to make bottled water!And crazy thing is that,it'll be dumped in just hours or even minutes after that! What a waste,isn't it?While we all complaining about oil(and its number that's more decreased day by day)for our transportation,we simply waste it in another form,that is...bottled water!Bottled water is recyclable,however it's disposable which means you can only use it once then you have to throw it because it's designed to be single-serve product.
Watch this interesting video about bottled water here:
Couldn't agree more!That's the reality and exactly how I feel about bottled water.My take on this is to change the bottled water habit into reusable water bottles one.Just like the plastic bags,it's not easy as sometimes I forgot to bring my reusable water bottle one.After all,this will minimize the health risk impact that I can get from bottled water one.How about you?Any take on this that makes you don't want to switch into reusable water bottles one? Would love to hear your opinion.
Thanks for reading,have a nice weekend!:) And..please share some of the joy you get today by supporting these programs below(click the pic):
