How to recycle your electronics

I finally did something today that I've been wanting to do for years - I recycled my first laptop (from the late 1990s). 

For the longest time, I had the laptop in my apartment - partly because it still worked and it was my only connection to a 3.5 floppy drive. 

Three computers later, I finally made the decision to part ways with the electronic that paved the way to my current 17" beauty. 

I knew if I took the laptop to the thrift store, it would most-likely end up in the trash - and that didn't make me feel too hot, so I did a bit of research and stumbled upon a cool organization - California Recycles. 

Here's some cool information from their site:

"Tens' of millions of consumer electronics, such as computers, CRTs, and televisions are purchased each year in USA. Recent studies found that over 70% of such products are currently disposed of in landfills. It is estimated that in 2006 over 75% of the electronics not disposed of, will begin to hit the waste stream of record numbers.

The average television contains approximately 8 pounds of lead. The average computer contains 2.5 pounds of lead.

Not every electronics collector is a socially responsible recycler. Many collectors simply break functional electronics and dump the un-saleable remains. We all pay the price for this practice - our country’s landfills contain millions of tons of e-waste. Sadly, the remaining 50 percent of the electronics collected in the United States for recycling is shipped overseas. At California Recycles we are committed to environmentally sound best practices and certification from all those we do business with."


I had no idea that a lot of our electronic waste is shipped to other countries that do not have the containment restrictions that we do - now that's not helping our planet one bit.  

It feels good to have found a place that is responsible and goes above and beyond their environmental call to duty.  It's just downright blissful 

How can you be more responsible when recycling electronics?  How can educating yourself and others support our planet?

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries.   

Comments

[Toni]

60 minutes had a piece on shipping recycled electronics overseas several months ago. The visual of this was disgusting. Steam was coming from the ground. People were over this. Cheers to you for finding a place that is responsible. I think more people would if it was not so hard to find answers of what to do. Thank you Kelsey.