Electronic waste, or e-waste, is simply any discarded item that has a battery or electrical plug. E-waste may only take up 2% of our landfills, but it equals 70% of all toxic waste. Our population creates about 40 millions tons of electronic waste worldwide, each year.. That’s about equal to 800 laptops a second!
How is E-Waste Bad?
Well, most of our country’s e-waste ends up in landfills located in Africa and Asia for them to extract metals from the discarded equipment. The method they refer to as recycling isn’t exactly the environmentally friendly process you’d hope for. This process is bad for me, you, and especially the workers of the landfills. Workers at these sites are often children and make roughly $1.50 a day.
Few Quick E-Waste Facts:
- To produce just one computer and its monitor it takes; roughly 1.5 tons of water, 48lbs of chemicals, and over 500 lbs of Fossil Fuels.
- Us American’s throw away an estimated $55 billion annually in e-waste.
- Currently, less than 15% of e-waste is recycled (reduce, reuse, or recycle)
- It is estimated that 40% of heavy metals found in landfills are from discarded electronics.
We don’t want to keep you from upgrading your devices as often as your want. We simply want to teach others how to dispose of e-waste properly. When it comes to electronic waste, chances are there is somebody else, maybe somewhere else, who will benefit from your unwanted devices. Be part of the solution and Upcycle your Tech with us today!