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Why recycle electronics
Imagine the weight of all commercial aircraft ever made. We generate more electronic waste than that. Every year. Buried in that waste is $50 billion of precious and rare-earth metals. 32% of our electronic waste is small equipment like laptops, tablets, phones, desktops, monitors, TVs. This is the fastest growing category of waste.
Even if your used electronics aren’t in good enough shape to sell, donate, refurbish or reuse, avoid throwing them in the trash. Toxic substances like lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries, mercury, lead, and cadmium in our old computers, cellphones, and TVs will eventually leach into the soil and may be our drinking water and food . 25 states have passed laws requiring people to recycle old electronics.
How to recycle electronics
Our extended definition of "Recycle" includes the idea of keeping devices in circulation longer, through repair, reuse, donation or reselling. Recycling electronics is inefficient and inadequate even in the most conducive of circumstances. Instead, extending the life of our devices is as good as or better than recycling, at least in the short term. It keeps them from landfills for longer and buys us time for the recycling ecosystem to get their act together.
Check out the curated list of options here. For more options see the Yellow Pages and other Directory links below. Recycling awareness and options are rapidly evolving. Revisit us to the get the latest.
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#1
Electronics is the fastest growing trash sources in the world
$60 B
Value of raw materials such as gold, palladium, silver, and copper in e-waste.
50 Million
Tonnes of annual electronics waste, more than the weight of all commercial planes ever made!
17%
Percentage of electronics that that are recycled
1000
Number of laptops that would have to thrown out every seconds to generate 50 M tonnes ot trash.
7 Years
Useful life of a cell phone
800x
Mining gold from a one tone of circuit board could yield up to 800 times more gold than one tonne of ore.
1.25 years
Avg time to upgrade to a new phone.
Electronics By The Numbers
Ready?
Click on the company logos to get to their websites
Human-IT
National organization. They’ll even pick it up for you, for free.
Recipients of your unwanted tech include low-income households, charitable organizations and not-for-profit schools, veterans, and people with disabilities.
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
They collect donated cellphones as well as old laptops and video game consoles. Their partner, Cellular Recycler, refurbishes and sells them. A portion of the proceeds goes toward NCADV’s programs.
Provides services to survivors of domestic abuse. If you’re shipping more than three devices, you qualify for free shipping and can fill out a label to have your donation shipped through FedEx.
Greener Gadgets
On US EPA recommended list. Recyling locations and repair Centers
Digiunity
They connect you with other charitable organizations. The options are vast. Choose a pre-qualified organization whose mission most resonates with you and start the donation process. Coordinate delivery with the recipient that the platform connects you to.
Pick your preferred charitable organization.
Call2Recycle
On US EPA recommended list for Batteries and Cellphones, including single use batteries in some locations. Find locations near you by entering your address.
Donation Town
The site lists a few hundred charities and provides you with information about the local nonprofit organizations. As a bonus, many of the charities pick up your donations for free.
Eco-Cell
Recycles devices cellphones, iPods, iPads, tablets, smartwatches, GPS devices, MP3 players, e-readers, digital cameras, and handheld gaming systems and their accessories to aid conservation efforts around the globe. It also refurbishes and resells your devices when possible. .
Proceeds directly support gorilla conservation efforts through Gorilla SAFE (saving animals from extinction) programs, via zoos, the Jane Goodall Institute, etc.
Earth911
On US EPA recommended list. This is not focused just on electronics and covers over 350 materials and 100,000+ listings, they have an extensive recycling databases.
Alienware
Manfacturer's Service / Repair Site
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Delete Your Data
If you are getting rid of laptops, tablets, phones, hard drives, pen drives and other devices with storage you should ensure your data is wiped clean. This may involve more than just deleting your files from these devices. Take a back up of all your data first.
