If you’re like most people, you’re probably attached to electronics all day long, but you don’t actually have a good understanding of them. Today, our electronics are extremely complex and we can’t hope to understand exactly what they’re made of or how they work. Likewise, we often don’t know what we’re supposed to do with them when they reach the end of their lives. Maybe you have a box full of old phones somewhere in your home or you might even have thrown them away in the garbage before.
Another thing you might not know about electronics is how toxic they can become when it’s thrown out as regular garbage. Anyone who owns any type of electronics has a responsibility to learn more about e-waste and how to recycle electronics.
What is E-Waste?
When your electronics are no longer useful and you need to get rid of them, they can become e-waste. Each year, millions of tons of e-waste end up in landfills. In our homes when they’re being properly maintained, these items are perfectly fine, but when they’re thrown away, they create harmful toxins that can spread into soil and water. Not only is e-waste unsafe for our environment, but it’s also a huge waste of resources. Much of the metal, plastic, and glass in our electronics can be salvaged when electronics are recycled and reused to help create new electronics in the future.
What Electronics Create E-Waste?
There are multiple different appliances and devices that count as e-waste. This can include any electronics you might find around the house or in your workplace. It includes all of our tech devices, like phones, tablets, and computers. In addition to this, it also includes appliances like microwaves, refrigerators, and air conditioners. When you take the time to think of how many electronics you use in a single day as an individual, you can clearly see what a huge problem it is that these may one day end up in landfills.
What Can We Do About E-Waste?
Understanding what a massive issue e-waste is all over the world can make you immediately concerned about what we can do to help prevent this problem from growing. Fortunately, we’re all able to help make a difference in the amount of e-waste that ends up in our landfills. In fact, it could be a law depending on where you live that you have to recycle your electronics. By recycling and donating our old electronics, we can all work to reduce the amount of e-waste in the world.
Recycling
When you’re done with your old electronics, they should always be recycled responsibly. E-waste recycling is different from the recycling we do at home every day and requires you to go through special centers that know how to properly recycle old electronics. Find an electronics recycling center near you that knows how to properly take care of old electronics and devices. At these centers, they can take the reusable parts of your unwanted electronics so that they can be used again in the future. We go through tech products more and more frequently, so reusing these elements is more important now than ever. This also keeps your old electronics from potentially becoming harmful to the environment.
Donations
Do you have some electronics that still work properly? If you have electronics that work perfectly fine, you might not want to look into recycling just yet. For electronics that still have some life left in them, you may be able to donate them, rather than recycle them. While recycling is great, you want to know that you’ve gotten as much use as possible out of them before recycling. Donating is also a good way to help support charities in need of electronics. You can reach out to charities to see if they’ll take them, but you might be able to do this right through your local recycling center as well.