W-E Waste
by Cara Miller
When we throw away our old, broken electronics, we never give a second thought to where they might end up. Well, it becomes electronic waste, otherwise known as e-waste. Throwing away electronic devices poses a serious problem. When we throw these things away, we are putting dangerous toxins into the environment. Toxins which are not only harmful to our health, but to our environment. Electronic waste can contain any number of toxins, like lead or cadmium. These toxins that are only exposed to the environment when our electronic devices break. Some electronics, like cathode ray tubes from TVs, computer monitors, and other things, when broken down, give off toxins that leak into the groundwater. Other types of e-waste releases toxic gases and dusts into the air and water. There are a lot more environmental impacts to electronic waste. I could go on about them for a long time, but there’s also a lot that can be done to help prevent electronic waste from ending up in a landfill. There are several different organizations around the world focused on recycling electronics and repairing them so they can be reused instead of broken down and thrown in landfills. Electronic waste has a great abundance of elements and materials that are valuable and could be reused for a lot of things. And with an estimated that 50 million pounds of e-waste being produced per year, much of valuable material can be recycled.
There are also several very easy steps we can all take to help prevent e-waste from going to landfills where they will become harmful to our health and our environment. Some product manufacturers have take-back programs, where you can send your old electronic device back to the company for a small fee. An easier option is to take old electronic devices to e-waste recycling centers, where a large machine breaks it apart and separates parts. Some recycling centers have employees that break down computers by hand, and use the parts for other electronics. Any way you decide to recycle your electronics, the components of any device you dispose of are valuable and important. Electronics can have a wide variety of different uses in other places.
Where do you go to throw away your old electronics, though? Well, there are several recycling centers that accept electronic waste; there’s even an electronic waste recycling center right here in Syracuse, NY. There are several recycling facilities that collect electronic waste in New York, listed here. Any recycling center is sure to either accept electronic waste or direct you to a place that will accept electronic waste. So next time you’re thinking about throwing away that old computer, think twice before tossing it in the trash!
[Photo, e-Waste, by Curtis Palmer licensed by CC BY 2.0]
by Cara Miller
When we throw away our old, broken electronics, we never give a second thought to where they might end up. Well, it becomes electronic waste, otherwise known as e-waste. Throwing away electronic devices poses a serious problem. When we throw these things away, we are putting dangerous toxins into the environment. Toxins which are not only harmful to our health, but to our environment. Electronic waste can contain any number of toxins, like lead or cadmium. These toxins that are only exposed to the environment when our electronic devices break. Some electronics, like cathode ray tubes from TVs, computer monitors, and other things, when broken down, give off toxins that leak into the groundwater. Other types of e-waste releases toxic gases and dusts into the air and water. There are a lot more environmental impacts to electronic waste. I could go on about them for a long time, but there’s also a lot that can be done to help prevent electronic waste from ending up in a landfill. There are several different organizations around the world focused on recycling electronics and repairing them so they can be reused instead of broken down and thrown in landfills. Electronic waste has a great abundance of elements and materials that are valuable and could be reused for a lot of things. And with an estimated that 50 million pounds of e-waste being produced per year, much of valuable material can be recycled.
There are also several very easy steps we can all take to help prevent e-waste from going to landfills where they will become harmful to our health and our environment. Some product manufacturers have take-back programs, where you can send your old electronic device back to the company for a small fee. An easier option is to take old electronic devices to e-waste recycling centers, where a large machine breaks it apart and separates parts. Some recycling centers have employees that break down computers by hand, and use the parts for other electronics. Any way you decide to recycle your electronics, the components of any device you dispose of are valuable and important. Electronics can have a wide variety of different uses in other places.
Where do you go to throw away your old electronics, though? Well, there are several recycling centers that accept electronic waste; there’s even an electronic waste recycling center right here in Syracuse, NY. There are several recycling facilities that collect electronic waste in New York, listed here. Any recycling center is sure to either accept electronic waste or direct you to a place that will accept electronic waste. So next time you’re thinking about throwing away that old computer, think twice before tossing it in the trash!
[Photo, e-Waste, by Curtis Palmer licensed by CC BY 2.0]