5 Reasons Why You Should Be Recycling E-Waste Instead of Trashing It Not everyone is familiar with the term “e-waste,” but almost everyone has some at home or at work. A great description is provided by the Environmental Protection Agency website, or EPA. It states that “e-waste”, “electronic waste”, “e-scrap,” and “end-of-life electronics” are terms often used to describe used electronics that are nearing the end of their useful life, and are discarded, donated or given to a recycler. The EPA goes on to point out, however, “Though “e-waste” is the commonly used term, EPA considers e-waste to be a subset of used electronics and recognizes the inherent value of these materials that can be reused, refurbished or recycled to minimize the actual waste that might end up in a landfill or improperly disposed in an unprotected dump site either in the US or abroad.” And that’s what Junk King Fairfax also sees as the biggest problem when it comes to e-waste removal and disposal in the Fairfax region, as well as the rest of the United States. Tossing E-Waste in the Trash is not Recycling But you cannot simply put your smaller old electronics in your recycling bin at home or at work, nor even in your commercial recycling dumpster. Recycling e-waste requires disassembling the electronics, separating, and categorizing the contents by materials, and then cleaning them. E-waste items are then shredded mechanically for additional sorting with the use of advanced separation technologies. And that’s in an ideal e-waste recycling world. Or, as one source points out, “[T]he range of different electronics makes dealing with “e-waste” as a single stream highly problematic, since recycling a fridge is very different f rom recycling a smartphone. Further still, even individual electronic products are often made of mixed materials such as plastic, metal, and glass. This poses a problem for recyclers, as separating these materials is difficult, costly, and time-consuming, especially compared to single-material products like cans and glass bottles.” Fortunately, by partnering with a professional junk removal company like Junk King Fairfax, all your e-waste disposal issues can be handled easily and affordably. And you can rest assured that it will also be done through a genuinely green process since Junk King is a major proponent of recycling e-waste and recycling in general. 5 Reasons Why You Should Be Recycling E-Waste Instead of Trashing It