BackTalk, a project of M.I.T.’s Senseable City Lab is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. The project tracked devices that had been donated to libraries and classrooms across the world and photographed the new owners, with their permission. The project also mapped the route traveled by discarded cellphones, batteries, and printer cartridges for recycling. One small example of the growing problem of e-waste:
[O]nly thirteen facilities in the world are certified to smelt and recycle the cathode ray tubes of old television sets – and all are in Asia. For these components, environmentally sound recycling is critical, since the glass of these TVs and monitors can contain up to 20% lead by weight.
The Dish 