ABOUT TOXTAGSTM
When you buy a Toxtag for your cell phone, mobile device, or computer, you aren't just neutralizing its carbon footprint, you are telling the world that your electronic device is headed for a happy ending--no landfills, no incinerators, no dumps in a developing
countries...Which, when you think about it, is a pretty sweet deal for
ten bucks. That's it.
Had enough? Click here to buy a ToxtagTM
Want the long version? Keep right on reading:
WHAT ARE TOXTAGSTM ?
When discarded cell phones, wireless devices, MP3 players, computers, monitors, televisions--together known as "e-waste"--are tipped into landfills, incinerated, or are
shipped to other countries with weak or nonexistent environmental laws,
the heavy metals, toxic chemicals, and hazardous materials in these
devices contaminate our land air and water, and make people and
animals sick.
Toxtags are a way to free yourself and future generations from the carbon footprint and toxic legacy of your electronic devices. Developed by a Dad who dreamed of toxic-free air, land and water for his daughters, Toxtag sales fuel a large scale effort to neutralize the carbon footprint and toxic legacy of used electronic devices through ethical collection and recycling, renewable energy projects, public education campaigns, and legislative activity.
HOW DOES A TOXTAGTM PURCHASE HELP TO CLEAN UP ELECTRONIC WASTE?
The proceeds from the sale of every ToxtagTM help us to divert more used consumer electronics away from landfills, incinerators, and unethical recyclers, resulting in a healthier world for all of us.
This is accomplished in a few different ways:
First, every time someone finishes with their cell phone or mobile device, they can follow a link through our web site to get a prepaid mailing label to send it to our mobile device re-use/recycling partner, Collective Good. This prevents the release of dangerous toxics from used electronics into our world due to unethical landfill-ing, incineration,
and recycling practices.
Second, every time someone purchases a Desktop/Laptop Computer ToxtagTM from us, we pay one of our ethical electronics recyclers to recycle a Desktop or Laptop Computer. (Let’s face it: shipping a sixty-pound used computer system isn’t a particularly environmentally-friendly or cost-effective proposition.)
Third, we hold Ethical Electronics Recycling Collection EventsTM in U.S. communities to collect larger types of used electronics--like, stereo components and Televisions--and with the help of donations made at those events, safely and sustainably deliver these larger items to our ethical electronics recycling partners.
Fourth, we use ToxtagTM sales revenue to conduct public education campaigns and to lobby the United States government to
ratify United Nations Conventions designed to protect the world
from the toxic legacy of e-waste, implement policies designed to combat global climate change, and develop legislation to compel electronics
manufacturers to "close the e-waste loop" by instituting ethical recycling and take-back
programs for the electronic devices they sell.
HOW DOES A TOXTAGTM HELP TO COMBAT GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE?
Every time we sell a ToxtagTM, we purchase carbon offset certificates to neutralize the carbon footprint of that particular electronic device--helping to slow global warming.
HOW DOES A TOXTAGTM HELP TO CLEAN UP TOXICS?
The biggest contributor of toxics to North American ecosystems is the mining industry. By re-using devices or recycling the materials in found in broken devices, we slow the demand for materials, and reduce the need for environmentally disastrous hardrock mining.
WHY SHOULD I BUY A TOXTAGTM?
When you slap a ToxtagTM
on your cell phone or laptop, you are letting others know that you are doing
your part to help clean up e-waste, combat global climate change, and make the world a healthier
place for future generations.
Your purchase of ToxtagsTM also supports the ethical re-use and recycling of used electronics, by creating markets for these items and the raw materials they contain. This has three major benefits:
First, your ToxtagTM purchase offsets the dangerous environmental impacts of landfilling, incinerating, or dumping electronic devices. By properly recycling components that have reached the end of their useful lives, valuable raw materials are recovered, air, and land, and water pollution are reduced, global climate change is slowed, and the Earth and all the life on it is protected from toxic compounds that might have escaped into the environment.
Second, ToxtagTM purchases help fund a lobbying campaign designed to get the U.S. to ratify the United Nations Basel and Stockholm Conventions and to repeal the 1872 General Mining Law —all of which would help protect citizens and the environment from toxics.
Finally, ToxtagTM stickers offer you a way to show that, at least in a small way, you are working to neutralize the carbon and toxic footprints of your everyday purchases and activities.
WHO IS BEHIND THE TOXTAGTM INITIATIVE?
The ToxtagTM was invented by Christopher Swain, a father of two. Swain hopes the ToxtagTM will be an economic engine that helps to fuel the recovery and clean-up of the world’s electronic waste, and that protects all peoples and ecosystems from the toxics they might otherwise be released into the environment.
At present, The Healthy World Workshop, Inc. (HWW) is the only entity licensed to sell the ToxtagTM. HWW will disclose the quantity and disposition of the used electronics that it diverts from the conventional waste stream, as well as the number of carbon offsets purchased.
ToxtagTM revenues are used to fund HWW programs designed to protect the earth’s ecosystems, reduce global climate change, lessen air, land, and water pollution, protect people and animals from persistent organic pollutants, and to produce educational offerings for schoolchildren along these lines.
WHY ISN'T THE HEALTHY WORLD WORKSHOP A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION?
HWW activities include large amounts of lobbying and political action, so by law, we cannot be structured as a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We are an employee-owned, for-profit, Massachusetts corporation that seeks to create a for-profit green business models designed to make our world a healthier place.
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