E-waste case study

Schools as Ecosystems

"Viewing human institutions as ecosystems is not new. Bronfenbrenner (1979,1995) has long been a champion in developing theories and conducting research about human development from an ecological perspective (also see Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994; Brofenbrenner & Morris, 1998). In addition, Lemke (1994) uses the term “ecosocial system” in his application of the ecological approach to the study of cultural change. We contend that a school and its classrooms can be viewed as an ecosystem because they make up a complex system containing many parts and relationships, with both biotic components (e.g., teachers, students, parents, and administrators) and abiotic components (e.g., physical setting, location of the computers, grades, and subjects taught). Within the school, teachers, librarians, students, books, dictionaries, projection devices, workbooks, desks, and other “species” interact with each other in certain ways to form a system that enables learning to take place.” (812 Zhao and Frank, 2003)

Case Study
E-waste: Ethical Responsibility Within your Ecosystem

John moved to a remote community in Northern B.C. with his parents in his grade 10 year of high school. Back home in Vancouver, BC. John was very active in the environmental movement; he even founded a green club at his high school named the Green Footprints. After about a month of living in Northern BC John decided that the high school needed a green club to create awareness and to educate people about their responsibility to do their part and maintain their ecosystem/school. John noticed that the School District’s electronic waste (E-waste) was simply tossed in the dump, with no regard to the environment and the inherent confidentiality concerns. John comes from a place where environmental concerns have never been more front and centre than they have been in the past decade; and growing more so everyday.

This link explains in detail the issues surrounding improper E-waste disposal and includes a video.

John is aware of the School Districts' need to address this ethical, and ecological, responsibility with regards to their E-waste. John discovers by talking to the people in charge of technology for the district that there had never been an emphasis on recycling anything and that everything was sent to the dump. John knows that E-waste contains very harmful chemicals and often sensitive information. For the benefit of his ecosystem John decides he needs to take steps to change people’s mindset and create social change.

Over the next three years John accomplishes the following:

1. Together with the help of his teachers and the Green Club John works to understand the school district’s policy on E-waste disposal

2. John learns what programs are available in the community

3. John learns that his School District has an Environmental Committee

4. John joins the Environmental Committee and brings up the topic of E-waste

5. With the help of teachers he gains the support of the school's technology department

6. John contacts Encorp and learns what needs to be done to ship the E-waste

7. John presents his findings to the E-committee

8. John works to collect the E-waste and record the weight being shipped to Encorp

9. John shares the weight of diverted E-waste with the school staff, board office and students

10. John and the Green Club celebrate the successful implementation of their E-waste recycling program

In the past three years, John and his green club along with some teachers and community members have built up a grassroots recycling program; which includes ethical and confidential recycling of electronics. Since the inception of this grassroots movement the school district has recycled several hundred pounds of E-waste.

The E-waste is sent to Encorp’s E-waste recycling program where they guarantee the proper disposal of sensitive information that may be stored on the devices and the safe disposal of harmful materials used in the electronics. The movement from not recycling and simply dumping the E-waste has cleared up significant ethical issues in regards to both privacy concerns and environmental concerns.

Read/watch more

Great infographic on E-waste in Canada

Where does all the E-waste go? Story by Greenpeace.

Following the trail of toxic E-waste. CBS 60 minutes story

The wasteland - CBS 60 minutes video