Landfill Diversion
Recycle or Donate Electronics
What Is It?
Electronic recycling, also known as e-waste recycling, is the recycling of electronic products such as computers and their components, audio/stereo equipment, fax/photocopy machines, and televisions. Although electronic waste is estimated to be less than 4% of the total solid waste stream in the United States, it is growing 2-3 times faster than any other waste stream, making electronic recycling even more important.
Benefits
Most electronics contain significant amounts of metals, such as lead, copper, gold, and silver, which may be harmful if disposed of in landfills or incinerators. Recycling or donating electronics helps keep toxics out of the soil, air and groundwater, and avoids additional destruction to the land from mining new materials. If one million desktop computers were recycled, the annual emissions equal to 16,000 cars would be avoided.
Additionally, recycling electronics can include donations to charitable or community-based organizations. Donors may receive tax benefits from donations to tax-exempt organizations, such as schools or churches.
RESOURCES
- Massachusetts WasteWise Program
- RecyclingWorks: Recycling Assistance for Businesses & Institutions
- EPA: Cleaning Up Electronic Waste (E-Waste)
- EPA: Sustainable Management of Electronics
- MassGov: Electronics Recycling
- MIT Department of Facilities: Recycling Dos and Don’ts
- MassDEP: Waste Ban Brochure 2014
News
- “The 3 rules of recycling electronics waste,” GreenBiz, March 18, 2014
- “Recycler gives new life to cast-off products,” Boston Globe, February 16, 2014
