8 Reasons To Recycle Your Old Home Appliances

The global e-waste management market size is projected to reach $5.04 billion metric tonnes till 2020 according to Markets and Markets. More than half of the electronic items are personal appliances such as computers, smartphones, TVs, household appliances such as heating and cooling equipment. India is one of the biggest producers of e-waste who majorly lacks in the data monitoring mechanism to gauge and manage e-waste production and disposition. India’s e-waste is growing at 30% annually which means that 1.51 billion metric tonnes of e-waste is illegally traded, burned or is either submerged in the landfill.

Have you considered environmental issues due to the disposition of electronic waste?

Well, with the advancement in technology and decrease in prices of electronic gadgets especially home appliances, society has reaped a tremendous number of benefits. Due to which the production of home appliances has hiked to a great extent, resulting in an increase in e-waste. The e-waste is made of deadly chemicals like lead, mercury, beryllium, cadmium and brominated flame retardants. Disposing of your home appliances hazardously increases the chances of contaminating air, water and soil. Looking at the hazardous nature of e-waste it is important to know the reason for recycling them.

Dangerous effects of non-recycled electronics

This happens when the e-waste is shipped to third world countries and is not deposited properly. Irresponsible deposition can result in landfills. From the landfill, the wastes reach natural groundwater raising the toxin levels which can be very harmful if it reaches drinking water. It is better to do our world a favor and recycle electronic waste.

Recycling electronics is easier now

There is an umpteen number of ways to recycle your electronic goods. Better amongst all is to find a certified e-cycler who will help you to take a backup and destroy sensitive data. They are aware of properly recycling the devices which will not result in emitting toxic chemicals and fumes.

Data Destruction can be securely performed

Reputable e-cyclers destroy data stored on hard disks, tapes and other electronic media. The data is converted into a completely unreadable format so that it cannot be accessed or used by unauthorized users for unauthorized purposes.

Get precious metals out of your e-waste

Well, e-waste is not literally a gold mine but has plentiful rare metals. Research by EPA shows that every 1 million mobile phones contain 75 pounds of gold, 33 pounds of palladium, 772 pounds of silver, 35274 pounds of copper. Why waste gold by throwing away, when you can have a piece of perfectly elegant gold jewellery.

Haphazard disposition is illegal

Many states of the US like California, New York, Illinois and North Carolina have added electronic devices to the list that are banned from going into landfills. Yes, pitching your devices is actually a crime and is against the law to throw the devices into trash bins. Here recycling your e-waste is much more imperative. Haphazard disposition of e-waste should be made illegal throughout the globe to stop the environment from polluting.

Help others in need

Many organizations conduct recycling programs for old used and unwanted electronic devices. Several of these organizations have partnered with charitable and Non Government Organizations. That mean these devices might go to the soldiers abroad, schools that need these devices or to the underprivileged families.

Recycling old gadgets could save money

Some electronic retailers and manufacturers offer discount deals on returning old working device, you get a discount on a new device. These old devices further get donated and are handed to someone in need.

Lesser production due to e-waste recycling

According to the research done by EPA, recycling one million laptops saves energy equivalent to the electricity used by 3657 homes in a year. Reusing electronic gadgets means conserving natural resources which can save the environment from air and water pollution and avoid greenhouse gas emission which can be caused while mining raw materials for the new devices that are already present in the old ones.

Recycling is the most responsible and the safest way to dispose of your old electronic gadget. It is advisable to take your item to your local recycling center who offers household recycling services.

RPlanet being an Extended Producer Responsibility consultant has a holistic and integrated strategy aimed towards environment protection by applying eco-friendly techniques and solutions for recycling and reuse of electronic waste.