Conserving Natural Resources

By: Estefany Berrelleza

In the Electronic revolution, development of new technology comes in masses. “Old” technology gets shoved in a drawer to collect dust. Management Science in “Effects of E-Waste Regulation on New Product Introduction” Elaborates that, “Rapid new product introduction is very costly for the environment, as well as for electronics manufacturers. United States alone, scraps approximately 400 million electronic items per year (Daly 2006), which amounts to more than one million tons of so-called e-waste (Schoenberger 2005).” (333). Waste landfills have increased so much in size, there is no place to put it anymore, so it gets sold to poor countries such as china. According to Greenpeace, They state “…the US EPA, more than 4.6 million tons of e-waste ended up in US landfills in 2000. Toxic chemicals in electronics products can leach into the land over time or are released into the atmosphere, impacting nearby communities and the environment.”

 

Why should we recycle electronics?

 

Recycling recovers many valuable metals from old electronics that can be used to make new products. Due to the recycling process, we save energy, reduce pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save resources by reducing the amount of fewer raw materials from the earth. Donating your used electronics to another person can prevent these electronics from entering landfills polluting our planet to the worst.

Finding a Certified E-waste recycler like EWASTECLEANUP can truly benefit you and the earth. By allowing E-waste Cleanup recycle your items, we can guarantee they will not end up in a landfill. We dispose of each item properly by removing all the precious metals to be reused. Cellphones and other electronic devices contain precious metals like gold and silver. Singly, the U.S throws away Mobil devices with $60 million worth of gold/silver annually. According to The World Counts, “Recycling 1 million laptops saves energy equivalent to the energy used by 3600 homes in the US annually. Most of the components of E-Waste are electronic equipment that can be re-used and recycled for materials recovery.” (The world counts).

Protecting your surroundings

Recycling outdated electronics safely encourages the handle of toxic chemicals such as lead and mercury.

 

Help Others

Giving away your used electronics benefits our community by passing on ready-to-use or refurbished equipment to those who need it.

 

DON’T THROW YOUR OLD ELECTRONICS!

• The Toxins Inside these products don’t belong in the landfill

 

FIND A RESPONSIBLE RECYCLER

• If your product is too old or too broken to donate, you should recycle it.

 

DONATE FOR REUSE IF POSSIBLE

• If your product can be reused, donate it to a reputable reuse organization

 

CELL PHONE RECYCLING

• Rather than leaving your outdated cell phone in a drawer, recycle it to local recyclers.

 

E-waste Warehouse Before items are recycled

WHAT IS E-WASTE?

Electronic waste is the most brisk increasing part of the U.S solid waste stream. E-waste contains countless of valuables, recoverable materials such as aluminum, copper, gold, silver, plastics, and ferrous metals. The only way preserve natural resources and the energy needed to produce new electronic equipment from virgin resources, electronic equipment can be refurbished, reused, and recycled instead of being landfilled. E-waste holds horrible poisonous and harmful metals that include mercury, lead, cadmium, beryllium, chromium, and chemical flame resistant, that can lead to contaminating our soil and waters.

 

Lead, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

Chemicals not only effect your health, but the soil and waters around it get contaminated by these metallic chemicals.

 

Landfills in India

Children in India, making a living by endangering their lives looking through e-waste scrap without the proper gear.

 

Protecting your surrounding E-Waste

By: Estefany Berrelleza

Electronic and electrical equipment contain numerous amounts of different materials that contain harmful elements effecting human health and the environment if they are not properly handled. While some naturally occurring substances are harmless in nature, their use in the manufacture of electronic equipment often results in compounds which are hazardous (e.g. chromium becomes chromium VI). TV’s and computer monitors are dangerous due to the fact that they have lead in them. Also, circuit boards contain toxic materials such as cadmium, lead, mercury and chromium. Another example, batteries in computers and other electronics may contain hazardous materials such as cadmium, mercury and lead. Children in other countries risk their lives from exposure to the dangerous chemicals. The intake of air, water and food can affect their central nervous, immune, reproductive, and digestive system.

HOW IT EFFECTS YOU? Donating electronics to your local communities, supports the community by allowing low-income families, schools, and non-profit organizations gain access to technology they wouldn’t be able to afford. Thus creating a gateway for locals to open their recycling firm. By allowing locals to recycle the demand of electronics that flows through, money and precious metals can be cycled to benefiting others as well. An alternative for keeping old electronics in the house or dumping them in landfills, recycling or reusing them is a more suitable option that should be encouraged by individuals and organizations. Taking into account, the benefits of e-waste recycling, is a major key that we all must account for around the world.

Arsenic:   A Poisonous metallic element which is presented in dust. Chronic exposure to arsenic can lead to various diseases of the skin and decrease nerve conduction velocity. Chronic exposure to arsenic can also cause lung cancer and can often be fatal.

Barium:        A metallic element that is used in sparkplugs, florescent lamps. Being highly unstable in the pure form, it forms poisonous oxides when in contact with air. Short-term exposure to barium could lead to brain swelling, muscle weakness, damage to the heart, liver and spleen.

Beryllium:  Beryllium has recently been classified as a human carcinogen because exposure to it can cause lung cancer. The primary health concern is inhalation of beryllium dust, fume or mist.

Cadmium: Cadmium components may have serious impacts on the kidneys. Cadmium is adsorbed through respiration but is also taken up with food.

Chromium:  While some forms of chromium are nontoxic, Chromium (VI) is easily absorbed in the human body and can produce various toxic effects within cells. Most chromium (VI) compounds are irritating to eyes, skin and mucous membranes.

Lead: Short-term exposure to high levels of lead can cause vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, coma or even death.

HELPING OTHERS

More E-waste ends up in our landfills and incinerators than being recycled. This pollutes not only the air we breathe from, but completely destroys the land as well. The U.S has generated 3,140,000 tons of e-waste. According to Electronic takeback coalition, they state, “While recycling is increasing, according to the EPA, currently about 60% of discarded electronics end up in the trash.” This is an exceeding amount of electronics that just get tossed along with trash and pollute the environment.  Many states are currently passing laws to prevent e-waste from going into their landfills and incinerators, it’s still legal to trash electronics in many states. This is big problem due to the fact that the toxic chemicals in the electronics could leach out of landfills into groundwater and streams. Burning the plastics in electronics can emit dioxin. “Out of 3.14 tons of e-waste generated in the U.S. in 2013, 1.87 million tons went into landfills and incinerators (60%) and only 1.27 million tons (40%) was recovered for recycling.  However, a significant amount of that 40% was exported.” (ETC)

 

E-waste In Landfills