Going to the Lower East Side Ecology Center is a bit like revisiting one of the sadder scenes from Toy Story. Located around the corner from the Gowanus Canal Superfund site in Brooklyn, the center takes lonely, unwanted electronics so …    Jenny An

While the center doesn't quite have the capabilities to make sure your credit card info and dirty pictures are wiped from your hard drive, Development Director Caroline Kruse hopes to implement it soon so they can resell newer, operational electronics …    Jenny An

Broken electronics are baled together and covered in heavy-duty shrink wrap. The packages often weigh hundreds of pounds.    Jenny An

The bales go onto warehouse shelves where they presumably counsel each other through abandonment issues after the lights go out. Then, they're shipped off to WeRecycle! to be crushed.    Jenny An

"Welcome to WeRecycle! This is the point of the tour in which we request all guests put on hard hats and hearing protection in case of robot uprising."    Jenny An

Forklifts then carry the unloved electronics up the stairway to heaven. Oddly, it looks a lot more like a conveyor belt.    Jenny An

The top of the shredder actually emits a bright light. It's nice to think of it as iPod heaven.    Jenny An

Iron is taken out with a large magnet, followed by aluminum. What's left judders its way down a conveyor belt like piece of sizzling bacon toward a machine that sorts plastic and metal-heavy materials. A precision blast of air shoots …    Jenny An

Once sorted, the sub-square-inch shards are unceremoniously thrown into bags and shipped off to manufacturers, where they'll get melted and transformed into the disposable gadgets of tomorrow. Thus the circle of life begins anew (cue Lion King soundtrack).    Jenny An