What Is E-Waste and How Do I Make a Difference?

 What Makes E-Waste So Important?

Although electronic waste is merely a fraction of our total waste in the United States, two things make e-waste recycling it important: precious metals, and toxic materials. Ever wonder how we have gotten electronics so small? Plenty of it's regarding precious metals like copper, gold, platinum, and all those exotic rare-earth metals that the majority of us couldn't find on a periodic table. All those metals have various conductive properties that produce them valuable to electronics makers. However, they are also very scarce making them difficult to source. In many cases, recovering those rare metals from a ton of old electronics is more productive than mining for the metals.

Another trouble with electronic waste is hazardous materials. Some As an example older TVs and computer monitors have a lot of lead in the glass of the cathode ray tubes (CRTS). From a performance standpoint, that lead is great because it kept us from getting zapped by the electrons being shot from the back of the picture tube and onto the screen e waste company. However, from the disposal standpoint all those picture tubes being discarded led to a lot of lead in the landfill. Similar issues were raised with the lead solder used to keep things onto a world board.

And those are only the more common hazardous materials. There's a laundry listing of special chemicals utilized in various parts of computer and electronics. These chemicals are useful for a number of functions like a fire retardant. All those chemicals, when improperly removed, may cause severe health and environmental repercussions.

What's promising is that there's an increasing market to recycle electronic wastes. The bad news is so it can be extremely confusing, unevenly regulated, and fraught with issues. The big trouble with electronics is that even although total level of precious metals and hazardous materials collectively in all of our e-waste is significant, the amount in every individual bit of electronic equipment is relatively small. Consequently, the recycling is usually done overseas where labor is cheaper and environmental regulations aren't as strict. Reportedly, approximately 50% and 80% of America's e-waste gets exported in good faith that they'll be properly recycling them. The issue is that after out of sight and out of mind, we lose track of how these materials are processed. Unfortunately there has been some growing and very troubling issues. The Basel Action Network's "Exporting Harm" documentary, released in 2002 illustrated the extensive damage some e-waste programs have caused in Asia. To recuperate the trace precious metals that a piece of e-waste contains, circuit boards are literally melted by the medial side of the street, the metals recovered, and the resulting toxic waste, left to flow freely into the bottom or nearby waterway. Subsequent investigations found similar issues with some operations in Africa and Latin America.

So what should people do about any of it?

The first step is always to make sure you recycle e-waste (e-cycle).

There's an increasing movement to certify electronics recycling programs. Programs like E-stewards and R-2 provide certifications to greatly help make certain that e-waste is being recycled in domestic facilities with proper pollution controls. There's just one problem. Not totally all overseas e-waste recycling programs are horror stories. There are several that offer valuable economic development to elements of the entire world that need it the most. Certifications that ban all exports defeat the legitimate operations in addition to the problematic ones. One alternative is being offered by a group called WR3A. They are trying to implement a typical, similar to "fair trade coffee" that uses contract language rather than regulation to greatly help make certain that overseas exports will legitimate operations with adequate pollution control and social protections.

Another group, called EPEAT is focusing on the purchasing end to help with making computers "greener" to start with. Their standards help to ensure that equipment manufacturers are thinking about these specific things when they make the computers. EPEAT certifications help to ensure that computers have fewer hazardous components, that computers can be upgraded rather than replaced, and that they can be easily disassembled into components for more efficient recycling.

Waste reduction options

You certainly can do your part by simply hoping to get just a little more life from the electronics. Don't panic. For people old enough to consider rabbit ears, "get a little more life out of it" might conjure up images of foil wrapped rabbit ears or antennas or your dad pounding atop the TV saying, "Oh, it's fine, this TV's got years left inside it" even though that it's actually a radio. But seriously, with all the electronic equipment available getting even 3 months more out a tool before selling or donating it can actually add up. It could even prevent you some buyer's remorse as there's probably a larger, better and yes, cheaper model unveiled within three months. If you should be trying to find an update, you could also look at only replacing a few components instead of your complete computer system. You may find that you get the upgraded performance you will need with merely a fraction of the waste.

Holding an eWaste drive is a superb way to make sure it doesn't wind up landfilled. Consider coordinating such a drive and donating the electronics to Goodwill, a full time income embodiment of the reduce, reuse, recycle hierarchy. Many working items can be resold there, right at the store and thanks with their ReConnect partnership with Dell, they're able to recycle non-working or obsolete items, creating jobs and diverting harmful e-waste from entering landfills in the process. It had been easy, educational for fellow employees and kind of fun.

If you're absolutely certain your electronics are ready to manage their flickering grave, you have some options. Many municipalities have e-waste collection programs. Check with your neighborhood municipal recycling coordinator to see if programs can be purchased in your city or town. In addition, the majority of the major manufacturers or retailers offer some sort f product take pack program. If you're investing in a new item, make sure you enquire about their get back recycling program for your old items. You can even browse the Earth 911 website. It allows you to find e-cycling options locally via your zip code. Also, the EPA's Plug-In To eCycling partners may offer a local avenue to recycle your woeful hardware.