February 7, 2008 11:56 AM PST
In his basement, Chameides plays with one of the several thousand worms that live inside his compost bin, where he tosses food scraps and junk mail. As the worms eat through the garbage, the heap inside the box shrinks. The remaining gunk makes a potent garden fertilizer.
Chameides and other trash-tracking bloggers cite the world's growing piles of electronics waste as a concern, especially because so many gadgets are sent abroad to be recycled unsafely by poor people. His e-waste for January consists of a handful of lightbulbs and a mobile phone battery. His family switched to rechargeable batteries long ago, so he won't amass AAs or AAAs from television remote controls or other gizmos around the house.
Photo by Elsa Wenzel/CNET Networks
