The kids are back at school, armed with new cell phones to keep in touch (or just take selfies and post to their SnapChat stories) and new laptops to type essays, answer emails and play games (hopefully all three, and not just the last!). Enter the e-waste problem.
What do you do with the old, left-behind gadgets? You may have a drawer full of old cell phones, or a dinosaur of a television collecting dust in the basement.
Many retired electronics end up in landfills, where they leak toxins, such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium that seep into the soil and our water supplies. But this does not have to be the fate of our gadgets and our planet. We can band together and solve the e-waste problem!
Electronic waste, or “e-waste,” is the fastest growing waste stream worldwide. Americans generate about 3.4 million tons of e-waste each year, with as much as eighty percent being thrown into landfills. E-waste is unavoidable because our world is infiltrated by electronics – and electronics do not last very long.
In fact, the average American has a cell phone for only 18 months. Gadget companies release new models once a year and dazzle everyone with fancy features. Phones are dropped, screens are shattered, and computers get slow and outdated.
Although we cannot stop producing e-waste, we can keep old electronics out of landfills. There are many e-waste recycling companies that safely break down electronics into raw materials that can be reused. Create a cleaner and greener world by keeping your electronics out of the landfill!
submitted by Sarah Bergen, Blogger/Publicist, Exact Solar