If you’re an environmentally-conscious person, you’ve probably heard a lot about e-waste lately. As electronic devices have become more complicated and more essential to modern life, the disposal and recycling of those devices are becoming more and more of a hot topic. This is especially true in more environmentally-minded places like the Bay Area, where recycling is held as a point of pride. E-waste comes at the intersection of the area’s progressive roots and its presence as a tech hub, making it an important topic of discussion in San Francisco, Contra Costa, Silicon Valley, and the surrounding areas.

At Junk King Contra Costa, we think proper e-waste disposal is important too. In fact, we make sure all our trained junk removal specialists are experts at handling and recycling all sources of e-waste, including old televisions, computers, cell phones, monitors, and other appliances with computer parts like smart fridges and modern A/C units. We pride ourselves on being the greenest company in our industry, going all the way back to our founding in 2005. That’s why we recycle up to 50% of everything we take in, after sorting every single piece of junk we haul away.

In the state of California, it’s illegal to dispose of e-waste in the trash, which means recycling is the only option. However, there are plenty of reasons why you should want to recycle your e-waste properly even without government oversight. Here are a few thoughts on why e-waste recycling is something you should be paying attention to.

Healthier for the Environment

There are two main reasons why repurposing old electronics is significantly better than just tossing them in the trash. The first is that the materials they’re made of just aren’t biodegradable. Electronics are largely made up of metals and plastics, which means your old laptop could take thousands of years to fully decompose after you throw it away. That’s a big problem for the environment, especially when you consider the second issue – the chemicals.

While electronics are mostly metal and plastic, they also contain small amounts of a ton of different chemicals, and many of these chemicals can be damaging to the environment. Circuit boards, for example, contain lead, and the lithium in modern computer batteries is also harmful to the environment. If you have a bunch of electronics just sitting in the dump, those chemicals will slowly leach into the ground below, damaging the soil and disrupting the local ecosystem.

Even worse is when electronics are allowed to decompose anywhere near an area’s groundwater. If chemicals like lead, mercury, or cadmium make it into groundwater, they can end up in the nearby lakes, streams, or even a reservoir. Not only does that damage the food chain for the local animals, but it can also affect the people living nearby, causing damage to the reproductive and immune systems, or even cancer.

When electronics aren’t being recycled, they’re usually just burned in incinerators. This avoids the problems involved with chemicals being released into the ground, but it comes with some new ones. As you might imagine, burning materials like metal and plastic release some pretty awful toxins into the air, which creates both short-term and long-term problems. The fumes from burning plastic and metal can cause damage to nearby people and animals, and they contribute to climate change through the greenhouse effect.

In coastal areas like California, trash is sometimes dumped into the ocean instead of a landfill, which obviously has a harmful effect on marine ecosystems. Non-biodegradable materials like plastic are the worst offenders since they can be floating for years or decades while gradually releasing toxins into the ocean below.

Recovering Rare Earth Minerals

The computer processors, magnets, and screens used in electronics contain rare minerals like lanthanum, neodymium, and terbium. While only small amounts of these minerals are required to build computer parts, they’re absolutely vital, and there’s only a limited supply found on Earth. With most of these ore deposits found in China, finding ways to recycle and reuse the minerals in discarded electronics is an increasingly popular field of research. Although the methods used to extract and recycle rare earth minerals are still fairly new, they’re extremely promising and are vital to making sure that we don’t run out of rare earth ores in the future. If the demand for rare earth minerals were to continue rising at its current pace, and recycling programs were not put into place, it’s estimated that the world could run out sometime in the middle of the 21st century.

Let Junk King Contra Costa Help You With Your E-Waste

At Junk King, we don’t think good business and environmental responsibility have to be at odds. That’s why we take everything we haul away to our nearest sorting center, to make sure that everything that can be recycled will be. Protecting the environment is up to each of us, and we’re proud to know that we’re doing our part. If you hire Junk King Contra Costa for your e-waste or other junk hauling needs, you can know you’re doing your part too.

Not sure where to start? At Junk King, we think transparency is important, which is why we offer free pricing estimates for every job we do. There are a few different ways you can get an estimate for your job. The most accurate way is to give us a call at 1-888-888-JUNK and set up an appointment. We’ll send someone out to take a look at the waste you need to be hauled away, and give you an accurate assessment right on the spot. Otherwise, you can text a picture to 1-737-888-5865, or give our free online pricing estimation tool a try. Either way, there are no strings attached, so feel free to shop around a little. We’re confident that our prices will beat anyone else in the Bay Area, and so will our customer service. That’s why we’re rated #1 nationwide for customer service in our industry. Whether it’s e-waste, construction debris, or furniture from spring cleaning, Junk King has the experience you need.