The United Nations Environmental Program estimates global e-waste in 2019 at 50 million tons, valued at $60bn, and only 20% of that gets recycled. That’s more than 6kg (12lb) of e-waste per person. Below, we’ll share ways for your electronics to be kept out of landfills for as long as possible.
E-waste is simply a term for discarded electronic devices. This category of waste holds a lot of potential value if recycled properly, and a lot of potential danger, if it is not disposed of correctly. In this article, we talked about how old batteries can be a hazard in your home, and how they can cause fires in waste processing plants, if thrown away without proper care. But e-waste contains a lot more than potentially reusable old batteries, for example rare earths. It is also estimated that e-waste contains 7% of the world’s gold - we have literally been throwing away money. So let’s look into the alternatives.
There are five approaches to dispose of your unwanted devices responsibly, starting from the most to the least valuable, for you and others:
Sell or donate Often, the items we no longer need actually still work and could easily continue serving their purpose. Often, you can still get quite a bit of money for your used electronics and there are plenty of platforms around that make it relatively easy to sell the item. If that seems like too much effort, you can often donate the item to a local organization (many organizations even offer pick-up for larger items).
Repair If you can no longer use your device because it is broken, repairing it will be the most responsible and savvy approach you can take. You can often find a local repair shop that will be able to fix most issues (after which you can continue to use it or sell it to someone else). You might be surprised how easy it is to fix an old toaster, for example. Alternatively, you can donate an item to a local organization equipped to repair donations before distributing them to people in need. While you might decide your device is beyond repair, someone else might still find a way to fix and continue using it or sell the repaired device on the secondary market. They might also be able to use it for parts to fix a similar device. Keeping an item functional is the best approach because it extends the life even of parts that cannot be recycled and avoids expending the energy required during disassembly, or shredding & sorting, or for producing a new item.
Refurbish Sometimes manufacturers run programs to refurbish newer phones and sell them again. It’s worth seeking those out specifically, but make sure you check the criteria, as they might only accept items with certain types of problems that are relatively easy to fix. Often, this happens if you return a new item within the return period because of a defect. If you submit an item to be refurbished and the manufacturer decides against it, it is likely to end up disassembled or shredded (see below).
Disassemble The manufacturer knows exactly where the various raw materials were placed in the device and can build efficient machines to take them apart (you can read here about an example from Apple). Unfortunately, this option is not often available and manufacturers may build it only for some of their items. While it is worth checking whether this option is available for your device, we encourage you to look into repairing the device first and continue using it for as long as possible. Some repair shops might be happy to take (or buy) your old device and use its parts to repair other devices.
Shred and sort If the device is beyond repair and taking it apart in a systematic way is not an option, the last resort would be to essentially disintegrate the item and try to extract the raw materials through various separation processes. This is not very efficient, because even if the device contains some components that could still be used, it is likely shredded in its entirety and an energy-intensive extraction process will try to get the raw materials back to produce new items. Make sure to check with your local recycling program for the appropriate avenue to discard your device. Never throw electronics out with the general waste, as it could cause fires in the waste sorting plant or leak toxic pollutants into the environment. You are unlikely to get money if you go down the general recycling-route that ends in shredding and sorting, so make sure to check out the other options first.
While the saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” can be a bit of a stretch, it is most definitely an accurate description for e-waste. Next time one of your devices breaks down, remember this and look for a way to get more value from it before resorting to recycling. This is even more true if the device is not actually broken, but you just decided to get an upgrade: someone else will happily continue to use it, and might even be willing to give you some money for it.
Want to keep these tips handy, for when you need them? Download Savvee for iOS and Android, to get more out of your things.
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