Green Practice

A growing number of consumers are aware that electronic waste, or e-waste, is a dangerous substance which needs to be disposed of with care. E-waste includes things like computing equipment, televisions, cell phones, and other electronic equipment. Many consumers find it cheaper to buy new than to upgrade, and often find themselves getting rid of perfectly good equipment, while others are discarding truly broken or useless electronics.

If the equipment you are trying to dispose of is still truly useful, consider donation. Electronics should be donated with care, however. A computer that still “technically” works may not be usable to anyone, and you should dispose of it properly rather than passing it on to someone else. Electronics labs at schools are often happy to accept old equipment, but make sure it is wanted first. Computers and cell phones that are still in good working order can sometimes be donated to programs which refurbish them and pass them on to people in need such as victims of domestic violence and people in third world countries. Before donating to such a program, make sure that they are actually passing on working electronics, not just dumping e-waste.

If your e-waste is well and truly waste, there are a two primary options for disposal, depending on what it is. The most important thing to remember when dealing with e-waste is that you want to make sure that it is going to a company that is capable of handling e-waste. Do not be afraid to ask for credentials from a company which agrees to accept e-waste, especially if the cost for disposal is low. Companies that volunteer to take your equipment, for example, are probably not going to handle it in an environmentally sound way.

The best way to dispose of e-waste is at your local e-waste handling facility. If you live in an urban area, the Department of Sanitation can connect you with information about recycling e-waste locally. If you live in a rural area, many companies have mobile services which set up a collection centre in a central location one day a month. The company which handles your waste, or the local dump, can notify you about when a hazardous materials collection is happening in your area. This is also an opportunity to get rid of batteries, solvents, paint, and other hazardous substances.

In some cases, the company which manufactured the equipment will take it back. If your equipment is over a certain age, you will have to pay a fee for collection and disposal, but it is well worth it to ensure that your e-waste is being handled properly, and that the usable parts will be recycled into new equipment. If you paid an e-waste processing fee when you purchased your equipment, as is mandated in some areas, the company that manufactured it is  obligated to take it back and properly dispose of it.

Computers should not be land filled as it has toxic substances that will leach into the soil and water supplies.

Instead, there are 10 ways you can recycle your electronic waste, where you either earn some money, or let someone less fortunate use your computer.

1. First and foremost, you have to learn to buy less as the more you buy the more waste you have to get rid of. Before buying anything, stop and ask yourself if it is really necessary so that you don’t end up buying electronic items you don’t need.
2. Make it a point to organize whatever gadgets you have. Organize your wires, connectors, DVDs and gadgets so that you know what you have, and so that you don’t end up buying something you already have and will eventually want to get rid of.
3. If there is something you don’t need, donate it as soon as possible so that someone else less fortunate can use it. If your stuff is not even worth donating, don’t fret. You can give them away for free on sites like FreeCycle.
4. Most stores today have a buy back program where the store will buy back your old electronic item when you buy something new from them.
5. If you have electronic products that are not exactly waste, you could sell them on sites like Craigslist and eBay. However make sure that you don’t waste time in selling your goods as their value reduces with the introduction of later models into the market. It’s better to sell heavier and cheaper items on Craigslist as shipping is not involved here.
6. Instead of investing in a server, and an additional electronic piece of equipment, its better to use the services of Dropbox and Microsoft’s mesh to back up your files. Use the cloud to help expand your business as required.
7. If you receive lots of memory sticks and gadgets in conferences that you don’t actually have a use of, don’t let them go to waste. Instead, fill them in an e-bag and distribute them to people who have a use for them.
8. Scientific projects need a lot of processing power to send and receive lots of data like analysis of DNA of cures for diseases and reports from space telescopes. So why not sign up your computer for one of these projects where you just have to permanently leave it in a spare room to automatically send and receive data.
9. Though you may not have a need for an old computer, your grand aunt will love using it to browse the web and learn more about what the wide world web has to offer.
10. While your computer may be practically useless, you can use your CRT monitor as a second television. Just get an external TV tuner and plug an aerial cable in one end and the VGA lead from your monitor to the other. The result, a great TV!

Here are only 10 ways to recycle your electronic waste. With some additional ingenuity and imagination, you too may discover additional means of recycling your electronic waste!