GLOBAL E-WASTE CRISIS CAUSED BY IMPROPER COMPUTER & ELECTRONIC RECYCLING

DID YOU KNOW?

• Every year, an estimated 400 million units of obsolete electronics are scrapped.
• By 2010, this figure will rise to three billion units.

While advances in technology continue to improve and enrich our lives, product lifecycles are getting shorter and shorter. And that means an increasing stockpile of end-of-life equipment that needs to be managed. When discarded, much of this equipment ends up in landfills in the US, or is exported to third world countries.

• An average of 220 tons of e-waste is dumped in landfills and incinerators every year in the US alone. These toxic items constitute as much as 2-5% of the US municipal solid waste stream and continues to grow rapidly.
• As much as 50 to 80 percent of US electronic waste collected for recycling is sent to Asia.

Electronic equipment contains harmful toxins which, when released into the environment, can contaminate our water, land and air. Lead, mercury, cadmium and flame retardants are all persistent, bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs) that cause birth defects and damage to coronary, respiratory, nervous and skeletal systems.

• A single computer or television monitor contains an average of 4 to 8 pounds of lead. Monitor glass contains about 20% lead by weight. When this glass is crushed in a landfill, the lead leaches into the soil.
• Just 1/70 of a teaspoon of mercury is enough to contaminate 20 acres of a lake, rendering the fish inedible.
• In the US, municipal incineration of e-waste is the largest source of cancer-producing dioxin and among the largest point source of heavy metal contaminations in the atmosphere.

While there are many ways to dispose of unwanted electronics, there are few guarantees that the resulting e-waste will be disposed of responsibly.

GreenCitizen is working to change that.

GreenCitizen helps individuals and organizations recycle their electronics responsibly. We provide convenient, affordable and responsible solutions that make it easy for everyone to do their part to help save the environment from harmful electronic waste.