When it comes to electronic waste facts, perhaps no facts and figures are more startling than those that tell us how little we’re actually recycling. It’s so easy to recycle electronic wastes, which keeps non-biodegradable items and harmful chemicals out of our landfills and our environment, yet many people don’t recycle their electronics simply because they aren’t sure how or won’t take time to figure out how. If you’re on the edge about whether or not to take time to recycle your electronics, these electronic waste facts might be just the motivation you need!
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How much we’re recycling (or not recycling!)
According to the EPA’s 2007 estimates, about 26.9 million televisions were disposed of in some way during that year. Only about 6.3 million units were recycled, leaving our landfills 20.6 television units more crowded! That means that only 18% of used televisions were recycled in 2007. The computer statistics are similar, with about 205.5 million units being disposed of, broken down into 157.3 million units trashed and 48.2 million units recycled. Again, that’s a recycling rate of about 18%. For some reason, people are even less likely to recycle cell phones, and in 2007, only 10% of cell phones that were disposed of were recycled!
Every year, the number of electronics that is disposed of goes up because more people buy more electronics. This means that electronic waste is getting to be a worldwide problem, as our landfills are filling up overwhelmingly with half-working computers and broken television units! In the United States alone, over 3 million tons of ewaste was generated in 2008, and only 13.6% of that was recycled!
Not all unused electronics are being trashed, though. Instead, some people let their unwanted electronics crowd their homes and expensive storage units. In 2007, about 68% of consumers stockpiled computer equipment they didn’t need somewhere in their homes. That year, the EPA estimates that about 99.1 million televisions were in storage, along with about 65.7 million desktop computers, 42.4 million desktop monitors, 2.1 million notebook computers, and 25.2 hard copy devices! That’s a lot of electronic waste to be sitting in storage, doing no one any good!
What we should be doing
Instead of just tossing electronic waste into landfills or stuffing it into storage, we should be finding more ways to ethically and responsibly recycle these items, which are often full of valuable resources which can be mined back out of them. For instance, computers and cell phones are full of scrap gold, which can be recycled into new electronic devices in the future. Aluminum and other precious metals can also be recovered from recycled electronics.
If you’re ready to get on board with recycling your electronics, check out Earth911.org to find an electronics recycling location near you. You can also check out Recycle San Diego if you’re in or near San Diego, as this recycling company often features free drop off days for locals who want to responsibly recycle their electronic waste!
* Statistics courtesy of ComputerTakeBack.com.
