How To Recycle E-waste
E-waste or electronic waste refers to the parts and components of unused electronics. That can be anything from an old keyboard to printers and computer screens.
Properly recycling these old components is crucial because they often contain toxic chemicals that can seep into ground soil and aquifers. Many electronics carry heavy metals like lead, lithium, mercury, and other hazardous materials.
E-waste is a problem that many countries, including the U.S., are facing. And thanks to the rapid improvements in technology, it's going to be a problem for many years to come. Let's take a look at how you can properly dispose of your E-waste and help reduce the problem.
All E-waste Recycling Isn't The Same
Many municipal recycling centers accept some forms of E-waste. They might not be the best place to take your E-waste though because they might not be properly disposing of E-waste.
According to BAN(Basel Action Network), an electronics recycling watchdog organization, E-waste from affluent countries like the U.S. often gets shipped overseas to developing countries.
"Globally, e-waste is the most traded hazardous waste on the planet," Jim Pucket, Executive Director of BAN.
Workers at recycling facilities in developing nations often don't take the proper steps to responsibly recycling E-waste. They usually smash electronics to get access to the valuable commodities like steel and aluminum. This releases mercury and other hazardous materials into the soil.
Once all the valuable materials have been extracted, the remains are burned. This process turns flame retardants in the components into toxic pollution.
Where to Take Your E-Waste
BAN recently came up with a solution for this problem, their E-Stewards certification. Recyclers earn The E-Stewards certification who do not send their E-waste to smash and bash recycling centers overseas.
In Utah, the only E-waste recycler with the E-Stewards certification is Staples.
If you have E-waste, take it to Staples. It's that simple.
19 Staggering Facts About E-waste (from Earth911.com)
- The United States produces more e-waste annually than any other country. The amount of electronics that Americans throw away every year? 9.4 million tons.
- Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by 3,657 U.S. homes in a year, according to the EPA.
- For every one million cell phones that are recycled, the EPA states that 35,274 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered. For those not familiar with palladium, it’s a precious metal using for making electrical contacts, as well as surgical instruments and parts for watches.
- Only 12.5 percent of e-waste is recycled, according to the EPA.
- Based on e-waste disposal rates, Americans throw out phones containing over $60 million in gold and silver every year.
- Recycling circuit boards can be more valuable than mining for ore! One ton of circuit boards is estimated to contain 40 to 800 times more gold than one metric ton of ore. There is 30 to 40 times more copper in a ton of circuit boards that can be mined from one metric ton of ore.
- According to the United Nations, 20 to 50 million metric tons of e-waste are discarded every year.
- Old television sets, as well as CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors, contain approximately 4 to 8 pounds of lead, a neurotoxin. Improper disposal means this toxic substance can leach into the ground.
- It takes 530 pounds of fossil fuel, 48 pounds of chemicals and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture one computer and monitor, according to the Electronics TakeBack Coalition.
- In 2014, 41.8 million metric tons of e-waste was shipped to developing countries, creating not only a dumping problem in those countries but also utilizing resources to transport the waste to countries around the world.Guiyu, China is a primary dumping ground for e-waste from the United States. After the e-waste is transported over to China, the electronics are dumped in the town where it litters the streets and poisons the residents.
- Hydrochloric acid is thrown on the items to reveal the steel and copper to be reused. High levels of lead have been reported among residents.
- Not all e-waste recyclers are the same. There are safer ways to recycle e-waste, and then there are companies that simply export the waste to developing countries. Rather than monitoring the recycling of the e-waste for health and human safety standards in these developing countries, many businesses simply have residents disassemble waste and use scrap metal, exposing the workers to toxic materials. Look for an e-waste recycling company that has been vetted through e-stewards.org.
- It is estimated that only 29 percent of global e-waste is handled via the accepted best practice recycling channels.
- Plastics in e-waste can be recycled into garden furniture. Battery components can be reused in other batteries. Metals can be used in jewelry and automotive parts.
- It is estimated that 40 percent of the heavy metals in U.S. landfills comes from discarded electronics, according to Jonas Allen, Director of Marketing for EPEAT, a global green electronic rating system.
- According to Allen, if the recycling rates for gold (15 percent), silver (15 percent) and platinum (5 percent) all increased to 100 percent, the electronics sector could realize $12 billion in financial and natural capital benefits.
- Approximately 350,000 mobile phones are disposed of each day, according to 2010 figures from the EPA. That equates to more than 152 million phones thrown away in one year.
- There are more mobile phones in existence than there is the number of people living on Earth. Based on the number of active SIM cards in use, more than 7.2 billion mobile devices are being used, while there are less than 7.2 billion people on the planet. The growth rate of mobile devices compared to the population growth rate is five times greater.
- The UN University estimates that global e-waste volumes could increase by as much as 33 percent between 2013 and 2017.