E Waste Recycling: What Is The Solution For Combating Pollution?
Electronic waste or ewaste / e waste is a serious global issue. We are all surrounded by electronics; we use them all the time. When these objects reach the end of their useful life, they get tossed into the trash – quite simply there is a newer, niftier, faster gadget out there that is more interesting and will possibly get the job done better. According to the EPA, e-waste is the fastest growing segment of the world’s trash problem.
What is E-Waste? Some Startling Facts About E-Waste
E waste is all the discarded electronics and gadgets that we have used – mobile phones, computers, TVs, stereo systems & other entertainment devices, printers, printer cartridges, gaming consoles, cameras, refrigerators etc. An estimated 80 to 85% of e waste ends up in incinerators or landfills and only about 12.5% of e waste is currently recycled. While electronic waste comprises just 2% of what lands up in American landfills, e waste is about 70% of all toxic waste generated – some scary recycling facts here!
Much of the so-called ‘waste’ isn’t waste at all; electronic equipment and parts can very easily be recycled or reused. Copper, silver, gold and palladium are some of the precious metals that we throw away along with our e-waste – we could be throwing away as much as $60 million each year in gold and silver alone. To put this into perspective, as much as 75 lb gold could be recovered from every one million phones recycled!
Retiring vs. Reusing
We want the new gadgets – faster, with superior looks and features and advanced capabilities. But we don’t know what to do with the old stuff, so it languishes in our basements or finds its way to landfills. This is both wasteful (as we saw above there is a lot that can be retrieved from it) and it is also toxic to the environment. Heavy metals, mercury, lead, chromium and so on can leach into the ground and get into our water ways.
One excellent local initiative in the Kansas City area is worth replicating on a nationwide basis. Some non-profits in the area buy discarded electronics and recycle them. Nonprofit for Connecting Good is one such organization – they buy your old stuff, sanitize it of personal data, refurbish and resell these items to people who may not be able to afford the more expensive gizmos.
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| E Waste Recycling Image Via Wikipedia |
This nonprofit has refurbished about a thousand computers and for about $75 has made it possible for people to own a computer loaded with Windows 7, and even antivirus software. Buyers are also educated about how to get the best out of their device. Surplus Exchange is another nonprofit that performs this useful recycling function.
When a device cannot be reused, it is disassembled, components are salvaged, precious metals recovered and hazardous items safely disposed of.
New Life Electronics Recycling in Oswego performs a similar function, recycling thousands of pounds of ewaste. This is a way to address the issue that waste management systems don’t accept ewaste by law. This trash would have be left on curbsides but can now be dropped off at specified locations for recycling or reuse.
Recently Forbes ran an article about how recycling ewaste can benefit US national security. Counterfeit electronic parts (read failure prone) apparently pose a significant threat to the country’s defense system. Experts are of the view that recycling can help control counterfeits getting into the system.
What You & I Can Do to Help With Recycling
While it is true that the government can implement initiatives that encourage recycling – foregoing tax on refurbished electronics, offering incentives for recycling and so on – there is much that you can I can do as well.
We can also dispose of our ewaste responsibly. We can decide to buy refurbished items rather than brand new ones; they are cheaper too! Let us all resist the urge to buy shiny new gadgets simply because we can. When you need to buy ink cartridges, opt for re-manufactured ink cartridges and toner cartridges to support the initiative to prevent exhausted cartridges ending up in landfills.
If you have any more ideas about reducing e-waste, do share this information via the comments section below. Comments on the official Facebook and Twitter pages are also welcome.