03/02/2016
Earth Day Shines a Spotlight on E-Waste
As Earth Day approaches on April 22, we believe it’s vital to highlight the fastest growing and most hazardous type of trash facing us today – electronic waste. Currently, e-waste represents just 2% of America’s trash in landfills, yet it equals 70% of overall toxic waste.
We’re using more and more of the latest and greatest devices faster than ever – cell phones, tablets, TVs, laptops and more. Thanks to this dependence on new technology, it’s critical that consumers, businesses and communities safely recycle their toxic tech.
Globally, it’s expected that we’ll generate 93.5 million tons of e-waste in 2016, and only 12.5% of e-waste is currently recycled. This means that education is incredibly important, especially around Earth Day. We’re hoping to educate all technology users of the harmful chemicals within those devices, as well as the importance of working with a certified recycler to process phones, laptops, LCD screens and many other products we can’t live without.
This Earth Day, we want businesses to understand the new corporate social responsibility: not only doing good in terms of charitable donations, but in terms of how trash and technology are discarded. We only have one planet and it’s under threat from toxic chemicals in the large amounts of tech that are not handled properly.