Most people don’t realize they’re in a toxic relationship with their gadgets. Studies show the average American discards 65 pounds of e-waste every year. Every gadget that ends up in the landfill sends heavy metals and other health-threatening toxins into our air, soil and water.
But here’s the good news: Recycling devices,especially our beloved mobile phones, is on the rise.
Responsible e-waste recycler eCycle Best helped keep 34,000 American gadgets out of the landfill since Earth Day 2013. Of these, 21,000 were smartphones, 11,000 laptops, and 2,000 tablets were recycled.
Recycling just one cell phone saves enough energy to power a laptop for 44 hours, keeps harmful toxins out of the environment, and closes the loop by putting gently used smartphones back on the market for someone else to enjoy.
To highlight the pros (and cons) of our tech obsession, eCycle Best created this handy infographic
Dave Kruchinin, CEO of eCycle Best, is hopeful that American consumers are getting wiser when it comes to throwing away their phones, tablets and laptops. “Although the numbers are relatively small when compared to overall amount of e-waste the country has generated,” he explains, “I believe that these numbers prove the increasing green awareness among American electronic consumers.”
Kruchinin encourages tech lovers to remember that much e-waste is not actually waste at all, but rather equipment and electronic parts that can be marketable for reuse or recycled for materials recovery. If one million consumers recycle laptops and other devices, they could save energy equivalent to electricity used by 3,657 homes annually.
Article by eCycle Best CEO Dave Kruchinin