Electronic Waste
Technological trash, known as “e-waste,” is the fastest growing
municipal waste issue in the country. Faster and more efficient high-tech products are introduced on a regular basis, and oftentimes buying a new computer or MP3 player can be cheaper than fixing what you already own. One problem with the relentless blitz of new gadgets is figuring out how to responsibly get rid of the old stuff. Consumer electronics may contain lead, mercury, cadmium, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (PBDEs) as well as other toxic chemicals and metals that aren’t harmful when products are intact, but make it difficult to dispose of them. When they are thrown into landfills the chemicals can leach out and contaminate groundwater. Pollutants can be released into the air when they are burned in the incinerators. Toxic chemicals also make recycling more complicated and expensive. Only about 12.5% of consumer e-waste is reclaimed. The majority of US e-waste is shipped overseas to developing countries such as China and India where the labor is cheap and the materials are valuable.
Green
- Only buy from companies that are making efforts to make electronics with fewer toxins and that say they’ll take back their old products.
Greener
- Find new homes for your old products. eBay’s Rethink Initiative, http://rethink.ebay.com/ has many ideas on selling, donating or recycling old cell phones, computers, digital cameras and others.
- Recycle responsibly. Your first step should be to check with the manufacturer of your product or the manufacturer that you’re buying a replacement product from. Most companies have some kind of policy that may or may not require you to pay a fee.
Greenest
- Try to hold onto products for as long as you can. Add more memory to your laptop, for example, or clean up your hard drive. Repair items whenever possible instead of replacing them. Do you really need that fancy new cellphone? The fewer new products you buy the less you’ll have to deal with down the line.