As technology is improving all the time, new gadgets being released are about to spur a high tide of household waste as piles of older gadgets are discarded.
Electronic items, dubbed e-waste, are the fastest-growing segment of residential trash. Every year techno-waste is growing and it’s not as easy to dispose of or recycle.
Minnesota State recycling firms already have seen a huge increase in electronic waste since 2006, when the Legislature banned landfill disposal of TVs and computers with cathode ray tubes. More regulations were added in 2007.
The reason is that electronic waste includes heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury and lead that can contaminate groundwater, and also contain iron, copper and precious metals that have significant value.
E-waste includes not only TV’s and home computers, but also keyboards and other peripherals, cell phones, fax machines, photocopiers, stereo equipment, older phones, VCR and DVD players and other techno-trash. It’s important for people to know that these devices can be recycled and should be kept out of the garbage. Consumers who want to discard such items responsibly have a few options:
• As part of the recycling program in Minneapolis, TVs, computer monitors, VCRs and certain other items are picked up.
• Recycling companies will accept and sometimes pick up e-waste, usually for a fee. Registered firms are listed on those same websites.
• Some cities and counties have dropoff sites where people can bring unwanted electronic items, often at little or no cost. A guide with locations is available at www.rethinkrecycling.com (and for non-metro locations at www.pca.state.mn.us/electronics)
• Companies that manufacture TV’s, computer monitors and laptops are required by law to collect and recycle a certain percentage of what they sell in the state each year. Some have developed dropoff events in conjunction with recycling firms or retailers.
Much of Minnesota’s e-waste collected by companies and government programs is hauled to a few firms that disassemble it. One of the largest, Materials Processing Corp. in Eagan, has seen its volume skyrocket from 3.4 million pounds in 2006 to an estimated 18 million pounds in 2008. Materials Processing takes apart TV’s and other equipment, a process known as “demanufacturing,” and separates the plastic, circuit boards, leaded glass and other components before shipping them to specialized firms to be melted or smelted. Scrap metal becomes rebar for construction, copper and aluminum are used for wire and other products, and circuit boards and motherboards are sent to a smelter in Belgium where gold, silver, palladium and other precious metals are recovered.
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