Rising to the Challenge of Battling E-Waste

It's a problem that society needs to face, and now: e-waste is on the rise, and it is doing a great deal of damage to our ecosystems and to our own species as well. Let's take a step back though-what in the name of all that is holy is e-waste, you may be wondering at about this point? Well, it's quite what it appears to be: the waste that has unfortunately been created as a byproduct of our increasingly e-lives. The penetration of electronics products into virtually every corner of our modern lives has brought with it many tremendous benefits, but it turns out that there is a pretty ugly side to the tale-a tale that we still can give a happy ending, but not if we keep putting the matter off...

The challenge is there, the question is whether or not we will rise up to meet it. E-waste is being produced at a scale that is simply mind-boggling: millions and millions of tons of discarded electronics products are being generated on a yearly basis here in our country alone, not to mention throughout the rest of the world. Though methods exist to recycle such materials in a safe way, inevitably the better part of that gargantuan volume of used electronics becomes, quite simply, waste. When this happens, many bad things are guaranteed to happen subsequently.

For starters, ecosystems are polluted. The toxic molecules and compounds that are carefully sealed within the electronics products while we use them are released by the violent treatment that all waste is given; eventually, they end up leaching into the ground soil and beyond that into the water table, with potentially and almost always definitely catastrophic consequences. It's not that difficult to imagine why having elevated levels of lead, zinc, etc., in your soil and water would be harmful, is it? Moreover, when the waste sites that these tons and tons of discarded cell phones, used laptops, and other items end up at are in remote, often third world settings where environmental legislation is weak if existent at all, the outcomes are simply too horrible to even describe. Studies are ongoing, but it has already been shown in countless cases that the communities (and general ecosystems) outlying these sites are much the worse off because of their proximity.

Much damage has already been done, but it is still within our abilities to change the scenario around and win the war against e-waste. What is needed is the same recycling, closed-cycle mentality that we need to apply to so many other kinds of waste; instead of filling up landfills, let's keep these products on the market where we can continue to extract value from them. In fact, there are already scores of businesses, many with an online presence, that work specifically in the electronics refurbishing and recycling industry. They not only help fight e-waste, but in many cases they are even willing to pay people for the used electronics items that they want to get rid of. So, the next time you need to do just that, think twice about how you're going to proceed.