Rescue something that seems useful to you that was placed in a waste bin/bag/dumpster. Post photos of the object and where you got it from if possible, and describe both of these. What was the experience of retrieving this object like for you? What from the readings this week (and earlier) can help to explain why this object has been treated as waste? Could or should it have been treated otherwise?
This plastic micro-SD card container that my new micro-SD card from Jeff Bezos’s Amazon.com shipped in was going to be thrown out by me, but thankfully I swooped in to save the day and stopped me from throwing it out, foiling Jeff’s evil schemes. I could have thrown it out, but it instead is perfectly useful as storage container for a full sized-SD card! Now I can store all of my pictures of micro-SD card containers in a safe container, where it will take the elements a very long time to destroy it (because it’s plastic!). Besides that, I am particularly squeamish – I still struggle to pick up my 15 year old dog’s poop, even with a glove on and a poop bag, and I have a history of passing out at sights of bodily fluids – I don’t find vomit very funny in comedy. I am conscious of my avoidance of the failure to actually retrieve something from a bin/bag/dumpster, but I have a get out of jail free card for this one B-)
I also want to reiterate my dedication to upcycling, particularly with scrap tech or various mechanical parts that I can handle in a way comfortable for me. The 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – are fundamental, but misleading to the actual process. Yes, we should reduce our production, reuse our materials, and “recycle what we don’t use,” but how? Reducing and Reusing are themselves forms of recycling – and can translate to downcycling, which is the reduction and conversion of materials, like plastic and paper that are labeled “made from recycled material,” and upcycling, which is the reusing of materials in other projects, whether that be technologically, artistically, etc.