Have you ever wondered what happens to your computers and electronics after you don’t need them anymore? They usually sit in landfills leaching hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere and soil. Sensitive data that was stored on such devices may also still be accessible and can fall into anyone’s hands.
Recycling your electronics is the safer, more Eco-friendly alternative. Computers, monitors, keyboards, mice, laptops, mainframes, modems, hard drives, floppy drives, cellular and land line phones and all connecting wires and cables, printers, copy machines, Telecom Equipment, batteries and Medical Equipment can be recycled.
Thanks to rapid changes in technology, discarded electronics have become the fastest-growing waste stream in the world. In the US, we threw away 16 billion pounds of circuit boards, transistors, and hard drives, also known as e-waste, in 2014 alone; about 50 pounds each for every man, woman, and child.
Recycling electronic waste requires the ability to collect, sort, dismantle, and extract recyclable materials and precious metals from a whole range of devices, while also separating out non-recyclable and hazardous waste. To be a large-scale e-waste recycler you need to have a fleet of vehicles, an army of workers, ample warehouse space, government contracts, and loads of insurance. The profits are slim, the overhead is huge, and regulatory landscape is endlessly confusing.
The US has no federal law requiring e-waste be recycled. Currently, only 25 states in the US have laws establishing a funding system for the collection and recycling of electronic products, as well as bans against sending electronics to landfills. In the other 25 states, tossing toxic e-waste into the trash is perfectly legal.
And then there’s the disastrous effect that e-waste has had on Third World countries. The US is the only developed nation that hasn’t ratified an international treaty to stop First World countries from dumping their e-waste in developing nations. So, mountains of hazardous US-based waste are growing at an exponential rate in countries like India, China, and South Africa. Exported e-waste has turned rivers in China black and towns in Ghana into some of the world’s largest dumps. The UN Environment Program predicts that between 2007 and 2020, the amount of e-waste exported to India will have jumped by 500 percent, and by 200 to 400 percent in South Africa and China.
Meanwhile, all of our electronics are getting smaller, more streamlined, and exceedingly more difficult to recycle. The larger companies, like Apple, HP, Huawei, Amazon, and Microsoft have detailed protocols for recycling their products, but that only applies to those that are actually returned by consumers. Most Americans toss their old gadgets in the trash with last night’s dinner.
The rest is left to recyclers like Ecycle Pros to try to bring some sanity to the process.
Some electronic items contain parts and other chemical compounds that may be hazardous to the environment. Help keep these items out of landfills, dumps and other unauthorized abandonment sites by participating in a responsible electronic recycling program in your local area. Some materials used in the composition of electronics are recyclable and reusable, making them valuable commodities that help save our natural resources.
- All components are disassembled by hand and completely stripped down to each and every reclaimable material. This method provides superior recycling efficiencies to that of incinerating.
Hard drives are shredded making it impossible to recover any data. They are also never resold or recirculated, which ensures the security of your data. Plus, all materials are handled in a legal and environmentally correct manner.
Ecycle Pros is at the forefront of the industry when it comes to electronic recycling, providing state-of-the-art solutions for businesses.
