Did you know that your electronic devices are likely better traveled than you? The components in them may come from as many as six continents.
You may have heard of rare materials that go into the electronics, and their provenance from China. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Lithium used in batteries comes from Australia, Argentina, and Chile. Sand for glass and silicone from the US and China as well. Platinum and tantalum that help electronics run properly are from Africa: South Africa, Rwanda, and Congo. One of the locations for mining potassium, for strengthening glass, is in Belarus. You can find out more about the materials, what they are used for, and where they come from here.
Your phone and other electronic devices are just like a treasure chest, not only for the content you store on them but because of the very material that they are made of. So make it a habit to treat these devices just like the treasure they are: and the Savvee app will help you do just that!
The end does come to the best of them though and that is when you need to decide what to do with that piece of equipment. There are no two ways about it - you need to return it to a specialized location. Most municipalities will have an e-waste recycling program, and you can drop your device there. Additionally, many big retailers, including Best Buy and Amazon, have programs to take the electronics that you no longer need and recycle them. Finally, electronics manufacturers, Apple and Microsoft for example, have recycling programs too. Do not forget to backup all your data before passing on the device, here you can read how.
What happens, when you do not recycle your electronics through the appropriate channels?
1. You throw money away.
You likely spent good money on that device you are now contemplating what to do with. It is possible you might be able to get some of that value back. Remember the many materials that go into your phone? They are the key to the electronics preserving value beyond their usefulness to you. We wrote a more detailed article about getting money for your electronics here, but in short, oftentimes you can either sell your device to another person (on Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, or other buy-sell groups online) or back to the manufacturer of the device. According to this source, you are likely to get more back selling your phone, but it is more convenient to trade in, so the choice comes down to what is more important to you, and you can experiment. Check how much you’d get for a trade-in, then list your phone for a bit more online to see if you get any takers, and then, if not, just trade it in.
2. It is dangerous.
Most importantly, do not throw it in your common trash, nor put it in the common recycling bin. Electric waste in common trash is quite dangerous for the air, the soil, the water, and the people who are exposed to it. Fine particles can travel thousands of miles affecting life as well. The lithium batteries can also catch on fire, causing immediate danger to those handling waste. In fact, e-waste is so dangerous, not recycling it may be illegal in your area!
It is no good to put electronics in a common recycling bin either. In recycling, the most important goal is to keep the content as contamination-free as possible (anything that does not belong in that stream is considered a contaminant), and the recycling of electronics is a specialized stream. Recycling what you can, but only the right things, is critical, it keeps the costs lower and makes reusing the materials easier. It is also extremely local, so to do the right thing, find out from your local municipality what gets recycled and what does not. Often, there is an electronics recycler near you, so head there to drop off your device.
3. It reinforces a vicious circle.
Many say that to have a sustainable future we need an electrified future. And while we might not need to electrify everything, we need to electrify a lot more than we have so far. Due to the materials that go into batteries, and for the electric future to be better than the fossil-fuel one, we need to recycle batteries because we cannot mine the earth for those materials indefinitely. The good news is, unlike fossil fuels that combust, you can recover many of the materials that go into a battery and we are getting progressively better at it.
Why does that matter as you are thinking about what to do with your old phone? Since not enough people are recycling their electronics, it is hard to draw on the economies of scale for the operations, and there is probably still lots of innovation that can happen if the market and consumer signals point companies in the direction of more recycling. So by recycling, you help inform the industry that consumers care and want that to happen.
We hope we convinced you that there is no good reason to throw your electronic device out anywhere other than a specialized facility. You also should not keep your old electronics at home, as they could spontaneously combust. So the next time you need to say goodbye to a phone or a computer, thank it for everything that it has done for you and take it to a place where it will be shown appropriate care.
Disagree or have an experience to share? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you!
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