Despite widespread efforts by both green-minded groups and electronics manufacturers, some people just don't care that much about buying environmentally friendly products. The news was released today (April 22) — Earth Day — by Retrevo, an electronics review website that surveyed 3,604 online buyers in the United States and Canada.
The worst offenders were younger adults, those who have grown up with the three environmental R's — reduce, reuse and recycle.
Almost three years ago, Retrevo ran a survey that indicated more than 60 percent of the households across the country weren’t recycling their electronics. The most common reason cited was they just didn’t get around to it.
Today, that figure has been cut by about half, but among those who don't recycle , it's because they still haven't gotten around to it. Adults under age 30 are the worst offenders: 17 percent don't recycle their old electronics, compared with just 8 percent for those over 30.
Young adults also pay less attention to green ratings, such as Energy Star. Only 35 percent of those under 30 consider industry ratings when buying an electronic product, compared with 42 percent of older adults.
Retrevo said the solution for improving environmentally sound habits was education .
"Perhaps if more consumers were aware about the harm improperly disposed gadgets can bring to humans and the environment, more people would be “greener” with gadgets," Andrew Eisner of Retrevo wrote on the company blog.
However, green education has been a priority for educators for more than a decade. Is there anything that can be done to persuade the procrastinators to change their ways?
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