Disposing of Electronic Equipment Responsibly

If you received a new cell phone or iPod for Christmas and you need to get rid of the old one, you have a few options for doing that. You can donate it to a charitable thrift store; you can offer it to a school or electronics workshop to help students learn about building electronics, or you can join the millions of Americans who just toss it in the garbage. Electronic waste makes up the largest part of American landfills, and the volume is piling up alarmingly each year.

What you may not know is that most electronic components aren’t made up of simply plastic and metal-most of them contain aluminum, mercury, lead, and other highly toxic materials. And those dangerous chemicals don’t just leak out of the surrounding garbage; they leak into the ground beneath the trash and filter through the landfill to poison surrounding areas and water sources. One outdated 15" monitor can contain up to 8 pounds of lead.

If you take your electronic waste to a recycling center you may think you’re doing the right thing by keeping it out of a landfill. But the reality is that most recycling centers don’t actually dismantle electronics to get at the useful or toxic metallic substances inside them. That type of intricate recycling is time-consuming and risky, so it isn’t worth the cost. Therefore, many of American recycling facilities actually ship e-waste to other countries, where poor people strip out the inner components and burn them without considering the impact on the environment or possible toxic fumes polluting the air. A great deal of exported electronic garbage ends up in China, in a recycling hub in the city of Guiyu, where peasants burn keyboards, laptop adapters, power cords, and other peripheral computer equipment, while other workers use coal fires to heat up circuit boards to recover lead from them. As a result of these unpolished recycling activities, the area has the world’s highest levels of dioxins in the air. The pollution has caused elevated rates of cancer and miscarriages, as well as a variety of respiratory, skin, and eye ailments.

Nineteen years ago the Basel Convention treaty was created to regulate how hazardous waste is exported to developing nations. Other industrialized countries signed the treaty and abide by its regulations, but the United States was the only country that did not agree. The Environmental Protection Agency regulates only the export of cathode ray tubes from old computer monitors and televisions-and those are the only electronic waste items the EPS oversees.

Some American recycling companies talk proudly about how environmentally sound they are, and they even hold recycling events to convince the public that they are committed to not polluting the world with electronic waste. However, a study done by the Government Accountability Office revealed that 43 recycling American recycling organizations regularly ship old electronics containing cathode-ray tubes to foreign countries without first receiving permissions required by the EPA and the governmental offices of the countries where the waste is shipped.

How can individual citizens keep their old electronics from poisoning American landfills or being shipped overseas to pollute and poison underprivileged areas? If your old electronic equipment is broken and can’t be rehabilitated, don’t toss it in the garbage can. Look in your phone book or search online for a retailer or manufacturer that offers recycling for free. The Basel Action Network (BAN), a recycling watchdog group, has compiled a list of American recyclers that are responsible in disposing of electronic waste. If an old electronic item is outdated but still working, you can donate it to a local thrift store, or sell it to Greenphone.com, which markets old telephones to customers overseas who can’t afford phones.

Environmental groups have been putting the pressure on electronics manufacturers to assume responsibility for what happens to their products after their usefulness is obsolete. And some companies are taking notice. Dell has offered free recycling for its products since 2004, and is now offering a recycling program for customers who take their used or broken Dell equipment to Staples stores. Apple is not designing their laptops using less aluminum and glass, so they can be recycled more easily. Some television manufacturers, including Sony, are enticing consumers not to dump their old TVs in a landfill by offering free return programs.

No matter how many recycling incentives there are and no matter how many environmental groups publicize healthy ways to get rid of electronic waste, the bottom line is that it is up to each individual consumer to actively look for positive alternatives. It may be easier and faster to just cart that old monolithic monitor to the dump and dump it, but if you do it will end up sitting in a landfill for future generations to have to deal with. Is that the kind of legacy you really want to leave behind?