An Email from your Landfill

Happy Holidays! What did you find wrapped beneath pretty paper this year? Maybe you bought yourself something shiny at an after-season sale? Did you get some new lead? How about some mercury? Heavy metals, maybe? A well wrapped human carcinogen in the form of cadmium, anyone? I know I have a few previously shiny hazardous materials gathering dust in my garage right now. What??

I’m talking about those shiny, snazzy new electronics that enrapture so many of us. Those lovelies turn into dreaded e-waste when they’ve lost their use, their appeal or their “new” factor. Then they end up in our closets, our garages or our local landfills where they contaminate our planet with their dangerous components. Some electronic components actually meet the Federal standard to be considered toxic and disposal of them is banned in some states. Yikes.

It is estimated that the vast majority of heavy metals and almost half of the lead sitting in landfills arrived via discarded electronic equipment. The numbers are mind-boggling, especially when you consider that electronic waste is a very small slice of the big garbage pie. Most American homes have at least one television, computer and cell phone. We all know how quickly technology becomes outdated or obsolete. Consider how many hundreds of millions of these items are being replaced yearly. Most discards are still in working order, yet nearly all of them end up in landfills. Millions of units are stored, unused. Less than 20% are recycled although nearly every part of these fancy machines could be.

I’m guessing polluting the planet was not what you had in mind when you upgraded your laptop, bought that pretty new phone or had a printer bite the dust. So, then, what are the options?

A great place to start is the website, Earth911. This place is one-stop-shopping when it comes to recycling in general. You can educate yourself and also search your zip code for a list of places to take what you are preparing to load into the trunk. They have an entire section devoted to the topic of e-waste at earth911.com/electronics/.

First, a plea on behalf of the agencies to which you may be tempted to deliver your used computers, monitors, cell phones and associated debris. If you don’t know how to dispose of your used goods appropriately, how can we expect these good people to know? If you lovingly donate your non-working or out-dated items to a nonprofit, they end up footing the bill for disposal. Is that like a negative donation? Here’s an awesome solution: recycles.org. This is a “Nonprofit Recycling and Reuse Network” that will pair your donation with a non-profit agency that is in need of that very item. How cool is that? Please visit their website to learn more.

You can also help your electronics find their way to an organization that can recycle, reclaim or repair your items. Among other factors, you will want to consider any data privacy issues and the age of the item before choosing the destination of your e-waste. You may wish to consult one of many websites that can advise you in making a responsible decision in selecting an organization. A few suggestions: the manufacturer (the brand itself but also others), www.e-stewards.org, www.techsoup.org and the EPA. You will also want to check in with your favorite local retailer while you are there admiring the newest gizmo. Some stores will offer trade in, drop-off or other programs.

By the way, this is a buy-one, get-one situation. You protect your local air, soil and water from the disposal of your unwanted electronics. But also, using old electronics to create new electronics keeps precious metals in the ground and prevents the creation of additional manufacturing by-products and the demand on energy sources.

In full disclosure, I admit that this information is brought to you by the owner of one television: five years old and a full bodied nineteen inches. (And this was an upgrade!) But we also own several computers, cell phones and a box of our own e-waste in the garage that has been waiting to find a new life. It won’t be waiting much longer.

Do you consider the environment when purchasing electronics? How do you dispose of your unwanted shiny items?

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.” Native American Proverb