As Reform Jews, our goal is to work, create, and build toward a more just, joyful and compassionate world. As Sci-Tech campers, we want to use our passion for science and computers as a tool to accomplish this. We can’t simply enjoy a summer full of fun, friendships and new science inspirations; we must also use our time together to make the world just a little better.
Electronics, a source of fun, connection, and learning at camp, are those widely used computers, tv’s, phones, cameras, and more that so many of us have. When these items break or become outdated and we’re ready to get rid of them, we can’t compost them like we do food or recycle them like plastic. Instead, much of our e-waste (electronics waste) ends up in a landfill because we don’t quite know what else to do with it. This can lead to groundwater pollution, as our devices can carry toxic chemicals that leak through the ground in a landfill into places we don’t want these chemicals to be. Enter: e-cycling! There are a variety of locations now, including Best Buy, that have opened their doors to our old and broken e-waste in order to recycle as much as we can from the devices. This includes re-claiming precious metals, like gold, used in solid-state devices or platinum, used in circuit boards and hard drives. They also recycle the toxic chemicals that might be in our devices, reducing e-pollution! Read more about e-cycling programs and electronic end of life programs here.
To that end, we invite you to bring your electronic waste to camp with you on opening day. We will have collections bins at the ready! During the summer we might take apart the devices and use the pieces for projects and at the end of camp, we will recycle everything at a certified site. We recognize that we can do our part in create a more whole world, and we can’t wait for our campers to work together in this endeavor!
