Recycling Electronic Equipment

Written by Contributor

Unused, outdated, and otherwise unwanted electronic equipment is taking up a large part of the country's landfills. These mostly plastic and metal machines are not biodegradable, certainly non-compostable, and therefore, will remain relatively intact, potentially for generations to come, as they slowly oxidize away. But rust and a lot of other byproducts of this slow, mechanical crawl to oblivion are toxic — bad for the environment, bad for soil they eke into, the water they spill into, the air they blow through. And that's bad for us. With that in mind, recycling electronic equipment is not just an option for individuals and businesses ridding themselves of old machines; it's an imperative!

Consider the following frightening facts about the electronic machines we throw away:
 
Computer cathode ray tubes (CRT) contain approximately 4 pounds of lead.
 
A typical television or computer monitor contains about 5 pounds of lead.
 
Cell phones contain antimony, beryllium, copper, nickel, arsenic, cadmium,
lead, and zinc.
 
Millions of toner cartridges from copy machines, fax machines, and printers are dumped into landfills each year, at a rate of about eight per second. And it takes one whole gallon of oil to produce the plastic in a single toner cartridge.
 
Materials in the discarded household batteries that run much of the electronic equipment we use make up 20% of the hazardous waste in our landfills.

The following major manufacturers and retailers have their own convenient recycling programs and can be contacted directly for electronic equipment recycling:

•     AT&T •     Best Buy •     Dell •     eBay •     Hewlett-Packard •     Intel •     LG •     Motorola •     Nokia

•     Office Depot •     Samsung •     Sony and Sony Ericsson •     Sprint •     Staples •     T-Mobile •     Toshiba •     Verizon

You can also find many local programs in your area for recycling your unwanted electronic equipment, as well as a number of government sponsored electronic equipment recycling programs.

New environmental laws are making it increasingly obligatory that all electronic equipment be properly recycled. Though enforcement of these laws is currently minimal, and subject to individual jurisdictions, as time goes on and the global environmental condition worsens, it is only inevitable that enforcement will increase noticeably. So why not beat the rush?
Now, an alternative to recycling your electronic equipment this way is to donate it to charity. However, be aware of the following:
 
Make sure the charities to which you donate your unwanted electronic equipment actually plans to use it.
 
Find charities that recycle donated electronic equipment themselves when they no longer have use for it.

Electronic equipment that can be recycled includes:

•     Computers (both desktop PCs and laptops)
•     Computer monitors
•     Cell phones, smartphones, PDAs
•     iPods and other MP3 players
•     Fax machines
•     Answering machines
•     Landline telephones
•     Copy machines
•     Toner cartridges
•     Household batteries
•     Electronic toys

The chemicals that go into the making of electronic equipment and those that are formed as a byproduct of the slow breaking down of electronics equipment are poisons to us and the environment. The only decent response to this dire scenario is to recycle all electronic equipment you no longer want—whatever the cost. Because the cost of not recycling your electronic equipment is far greater.