#1- It takes 539 lbs of fossil fuel, 48 lbs of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture one computer and monitor.
#2- A large number of what is labeled as "e-waste" is actually not waste at all, but rather whole electronic equipment or parts that are readily marketable for reuse or can be recycled for materials recovery. #3- Recycling 1 million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by 3,657 U.S. homes in a year. #4- For every 1 million cell phones that are recycled, 35,274 lbs of copper, 772 lbs of silver, 75 lbs of gold, and 33 lbs of palladium can be recovered. #5- 80 to 85% of electronic products were discarded in landfills or incinerators, which can release certain toxics into the air. #6- Only 12.5% of e-waste is currently recycled. The key to this is to recycle. Most people use a cell phone for less than a year, and if those of us planning on buying a shiny new iPhone or Galaxy S5 can be convinced to recycle our old phones, we’d be doing the planet a huge favor. Our old phones can not only be used by others, but the cash we get from selling them can help fund our next purchase. At the same time, by selling or donating an old phone, we’re keeping it from adding to the rubbish in our landfills, and also enabling someone else to obtain an affordable phone. Hence, if you aren’t already practicing it, you should take an initiative to recycle old cell phones and other e-waste in your household. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-lesser-known-facts-about-e-waste-recycling-2012-10 https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-e-waste
5 Comments
9/18/2018 03:18:13 pm
It is crazy to read that only 12.5% of e-waste is recycled. Having the advice to recycle is something that I will want to take seriously to reduce landfills. This is helpful, and checking e-waste recycling will be something I look into.
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9/3/2019 10:24:14 am
Thank you for helping me learn more about electronic waste. It's amazing that for every 1 million cells phone recycled that 75 pounds of gold is recovered. I am going to have the think twice about finding a place to recycle my old phone.
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10/29/2019 08:49:10 am
I think that's so cool that for every one million cell phones that get recycled, we get over 36,000 pounds of metal. One of my friends recently started a small business and is in the process of getting rid of old computers. We'll have to look into e-waste recycling.
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I find it interesting when you said that copper recycling can reach around 35,274 lbs when you recycle one million cell phones while there would be 772 lbs of silver, 75 lbs of gold, and 33 lbs of palladium as well. I guess we really have to do our part and get those pieces recycled with the help of a facility that specializes in them. In my opinion, we need to do our part in helping the environment to heal, especially now that the planet keeps on getting hotter.
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