Vote with your money - Use less first, buy tree free paper second, thirdly buy only 100% recycled tree paper and all products made out of high post consumer recycled content first. If it's not post consumer it is still virgin materials. Germany has always had the right idea, instead of making packaging an end consumer and local government issue manufacturers and producers are responsible for the waste they create.
Hold on to your cell phone longer, recycle the old cell phones. Find out where your recycled phone is being sent - avoid sending to countries overseas for dumping.
Recycling hazards overseas- Article China, Indonesia and India are now refusing old and second hand electronics from Western Countries due to the toxic metal contamination that improper recycling efforts and metal extraction can create. There are recycling companies right here at home, they don't need to be exported.
e-recycling in Ghana - slideshow this is how it looked in many countries until they said no.
Old electronics are the new gold.
Not a new video (2008) shows how electronics are recycled here at home.
Take back policies Implementing through government policies manufacturer and producer responsibility for their own product design and waste they create in that design. A "Manufacturer Take Back" program encourages smart waste free (hopefully) cradle to cradle design, relieving the burden from the end user and the demands of municipalities waste management programs.
We need to take care of our own trash and insist that manufacturers design products to be environmentally benign. The are no toxic heavy metals in European electronics due to government policy - it can be done.
