ERI Founder John Shegerian Joins “e-waste Tsunami” Design and Policy Panel at Parsons School of Design

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–John Shegerian, Chairman, CEO and co-founder of Electronic
Recyclers International (ERI), the nation’s leading recycler of
electronic waste, will join a group of noted design and sustainability
experts this Friday for e-waste
Tsunami: Design & Policy Response—A Panel Discussion at the New
School’s Sheila
C. Johnson Design Center on Friday, March 11, 6-8 p.m.

The panel brings together designers, policy experts, and supply-chain
participants to raise awareness on e-waste and imagine best practice
scenarios for its disposal. Panelists include Shegerian; Shaun
Fynn, CEO and creative director of Studio Fynn; Amita Singh, CFO and
director of quantitative research at Studio Fynn; and Prasad Boradkar,
professor of industrial design and senior sustainability scholar
at Arizona State University. The discussion will feature an introduction
by Brian
McGrath, Dean, Parsons School of Constructed Environments and will
be moderated by Rama
Chorpash, Director MFA Industrial Design, Parsons School of
Constructed Environments.

As part of a cross-divisional team led by the new MFA Industrial Design
Program, the panel aims to expand awareness for the exponentially
growing problem of e-waste, especially in India and China. The panel
brings together designers, policy experts, and supply-chain participants
to raise e-waste awareness and imagine best practice scenarios.

The intended audiences for the panel include those who are involved in
the design and manufacture of consumer and electronic products, as well
as those concerned with the broader environmental and social issues
around manufactured goods and consumerism. This will be of interest to
anyone who wishes to expand their view on the eco systems around the
products of technology we consume today.

This panel coincides with the e-waste
Tsunami exhibition and workshops running in Arnold and Sheila Aronson
Galleries. The show articulates impacts of environmental policy and
sustainability management through photography and data visualization.
The exhibition features documentary photographs and video interviews of
individuals from Delhi, India who work with e-waste on a daily basis, a
film exploring the experience of the industrialized landscape of the
e-waste worker, along with data visualizations revealing the scale of
the problem by New York and Los Angeles based StudioFYNN.
Real data and “exploded view” models by MFA Industrial Design students
explore the nature of product manufacture and assembly.

“Understanding the interrelation of the ecosystems is key to the design
of new products and services that will address and alleviate the e-waste
problem,” said Chorpash. “How can industrial design, which plays a major
role in creating this problem, be part of its solution? This is what
we’ll be discussing.”

“It’s an honor and privilege to have been asked to participate in this
important discussion alongside such knowledgeable and insightful
co-panelists,” said Shegerian. “That the New School Parsons faculty is
bringing these issues up in its design center, galleries, classrooms and
at events such as this is a huge step in the right direction. Source
reduction, responsible recycling and reuse and reusability are themes we
look forward to discussing and are all vitally important for our future
leaders to be aware of, as we move forward with future innovations in
and demand for consumer technology. The bottom line to all this is
responsibility at each stage of an electronic item’s lifecycle, from
design and manufacture to recycling.”

The exhibition and panel discussion are co-sponsored by the Sheila C.
Johnson Design Center, Parsons School
of Constructed Environments, and the India
China Institute at The New School. In-kind support for printing
generously provided by Duggal.

For more information on general recycling needs, visit www.electronicrecyclers.com,
www.Recyclenation.com,
http://greenisgoodradio.com
or www.urbanmining.org.

Electronic Recyclers International (ERI), the nation’s leading recycler
of electronic waste and the world’s largest cybersecurity-focused
hardware destruction company, is e-Stewards and R2 certified to
de-manufacture and recycle every type of electronic waste in an
environmentally friendly manner. ERI processes more than 275 million
pounds of electronic waste annually at eight locations, serving every
zip code in the United States. For more information about e-waste
recycling and ERI, call 1-800-ERI-DIRECT or visit www.electronicrecyclers.com.

The
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center (SJDC) is an award-winning
campus center for Parsons The New School for Design that combines
learning and public spaces with exhibition galleries to provide an
important new downtown destination for art and design programming. The
mission of the Center is to generate an active dialogue on the role of
innovative art and design in responding to the contemporary world. Its
programming encourages an interdisciplinary examination of possibility
and process, linking the university to local and global debates. The
center is named in honor of its primary benefactor, New School Trustee
and Parsons Board of Governors Member Sheila C. Johnson. The design by
Rice+Lipka Architects is the recipient of numerous awards, including an
Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects. For more
information, visit the SJDC’s
website.

Parsons
School of Design is one of the leading institutions for art and
design education in the world. Based in New York but active around the
world, the school offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the full
spectrum of art and design disciplines. Critical thinking and
collaboration are at the heart of a Parsons education. Parsons graduates
are leaders in their respective fields, with a shared commitment to
creatively and critically addressing the complexities of life in the
21st century. For more information, visit Parsons
website.

Founded in 1919, The
New School was born out of principles of academic
freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. Committed to social engagement,
The New School today remains in the vanguard of innovation in higher
education, with more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students
challenging the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal
arts, management, the arts, and media. The New School welcomes thousands
of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and calendar
of lectures, screenings, readings, and concerts. Through its online
learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships,
The New School maintains a global presence. For more information, visit The
New School’s website.

Contacts

ERI:
Paul Williams, 310-569-0023
paul.williams@electronicrecyclers.com