While it’s easy to become increasingly depressed at the sheer amount of electronic waste — and the impact of lead and mercury (just two of the undesirable chemicals that leak from electronic waste) in our water, agriculture and soil — several companies are seizing the opportunities offered by rejected mobile phones, computers and other electronics.
Don’t just bin your unwanted gadgets and gizmos – here are several options for alternative action:
Gazelle, one company who have spotted an opportunity to recycle electronics, have a simple aim — to ‘redefine consumption and change the way we all buy, own, use, and recycle electronics’. You know, just the small stuff, some might say totally unambitious… Over 80% of their products are recycled, and passed on to new owners, lengthening product life cycles.
The company pride themselves on their strict recycling policy, and only work with organizations who abide by strict regulations. In other words, they’re fussy about recycling. Which is a good thing.
We’ve heard a lot of negative stories about companies taking advantage of the green trend in America (and other countries where it’s supposedly “caught on”), only to ship all their stuff to countries that don’t respect any relevant laws. Not only is the shipping cancelling out the good effects, but dumping a bunch of electronics into a poorer part of China or India and then hushing up about it is hardly great for the planet — so it’s great to see Gazelle making a point on this.
Best Buy, Earth911, and the EPA Themselves
Best Buy also promise to safely dispose of electronic waste, and are helpful and informative in recommending various options for recycling: kiosks, trade-in schemes, TV appliance haul away, and a list of alternative recycling locations.
The catchily, if melodramatically titled earth911 also offers a concise, and well designed ‘one stop shop’ for avid recyclers. Their website includes a recycling database with over 100,000 locations across the country. They also boast of having been featured on Oprah, if you like to recycle while dropping names.
EPA, the Government website, collates all the information you’ll need on who, where and when in one location. However, they haven’t been mentioned on Oprah…
So, there’s no excuse to jettison your electronic junk. Just one tip – make sure you choose organizations who really pay attention to where they recycle.
