The field of e-waste recycling is starting to gain more attention, especially from municipalities and consumers. With more electronic devices entering the market every day, and a seemingly endless need to acquire the newest and best model, it’s important for us to safely dispose of what’s old or broken. Read on for an exploration of e-waste recycling and how it works.
What Is E-Waste?
E-waste, sometimes called electronic waste, is another word for discarded electronic items. These items include computers, tablets, cell phones, MP3 players and a plethora of other high-tech devices. They may be broken, or they may still function.
Why Is E-Waste Recycling So Important?
Electronic devices are filled with toxic materials. These include lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals. If e-waste is thrown in the trash, it typically ends up in the landfill, where these chemicals can leech into water and soil and poison them. Protecting the environment from these chemicals is one of the key goals of e-waste recycling.
Likewise, e-waste recycling retrieves these metals and other chemicals for future use. Unfortunately, suppliers often mine these substances via environmentally destructive and socially exploitative methods. By re-purposing these substances, you can do your part to discourage destructive, dangerous mining techniques.
How Does E-Waste Recycling Work?
Just throwing your e-waste into the trash means it’ll end up in a landfill, rather than being put through an e-waste recycling process. To recycle your electronic waste, you’ll need to make sure it goes specifically into an e-waste recycling program. Thankfully, many municipalities are recognizing and filling the need for this specialized kind of recycling.
What exactly happens to your device at that point depends on the state it’s in. If your device is still essentially functional — say, if it simply has a cracked screen, or if it just needs an upgrade — an e-waste recycling specialist may just replace those parts and put the device back on the market. If your device is more substantially damaged or is significantly out of date, it may be broken down for parts, or it may be melted down so that the heavy metals inside can be removed and reused.
If you’ve got computers, phones and other electronic devices that meet the definition of e-waste, Junk King can help. We’re pros at hauling away your junk, and making sure it gets where it needs to go. Contact us today and see why so many homeowners and businesses trust us to help you get your junk situation under control.