E-waste has a lasting impact on the environment and takes a long time to deteriorate.  People often purchase new electronics because they want to have the newest technology.  If people made a greater effort to distinguish between wants and needs, there would be less e-waste in the environment.

sometimes wants and needs lead to hoarding. sometimes some people dont recognize the difference between wants needs and dont needs.

I totally agree that more privileged people tend to have more desires. A huge desire is e-waste like what you said. To a person who doesn't have a ton of money, a phone is a phone. This person doesn't need anything more, like an iphone 6s as long as their phone works. I think there is so much e-waste in the world because people with iphone 5's are immediately buying an iphone 6 when it comes out. It's a waste of money and a waste of resources. I can think of many people who would be perfectly satisfied with the not newest iphone.

I do not agree that privileged people have stronger desires, but they do have the means to fulfil them. I do agree however that e-waste is a serious problem that can be solved by differentiating between our wants and needs. Many people (including me) have fallen into the traps set by technology companies that encourage them to upgrade. Although this upgrading is bad these companies also update their software and hardware, which is a viable reason to buy a new phone, tablet or even microwave. As this website http://www.green.harvard.edu/tools-reso … ur-e-waste (Harvard University) says, there are many ways to reduce your e-waste, such as donating old devices, protecting and keeping older ones for a longer time and not buying unneeded gadgets.

Overall, everyone can reduce their carbon footprint and e-waste with just a few small changes.