E-waste or electronic waste refers to discarded electronics or components used in electronics. This kind of waste makes up about 2% of all the waste in landfills. This figure may be quite small but the toxicity it releases amounts to 70% of all toxic waste per country. This is why recycling e-waste is highly encouraged. Alnor Industries’ Mississauga electronics recycling plant has processed countless e-waste components and byproducts, turning what would have been toxic garbage in a landfill into something useful.

As you can tell, recycling e-waste is crucial to the continued sustainability of our world. Here are 3 facts about e-waste that supports that:

It’s the fastest growing type of waste in the U.S.

Globally, there are around 20 - 50 million tons of electronic waste which are dumped every year. In the U.S. alone, over 4 million tons of e-waste was generated in 2000 – this was almost 20 years ago. Today, we undoubtedly have more e-waste. Countries have been introducing laws to mitigate and totally eliminate e-waste. Our Mississauga electronics recycling facility can help curb some of these items from going to complete waste.  

Health and environmental risks

Over time, electronic waste can release extremely harmful chemicals into the air, including lead, mercury, and cadmiums. Other toxic contaminants they produce are beryllium and flame retardants which can end up in the food chain, posing risks to plants, animals, and human health. The electronic parts that emit those harmful substances include laptop and desktop computers, LCD TV monitors, portable CD players, and even plasma TV sets.

Still a long way to go

Currently, the amount of e-waste that’s being recycled amounts to only less than 13% of all e-waste. However, our Mississauga electronics recycling center can help add to this, saving a great amount of energy and resources. Recycling one million cellular phones can result in recovering 75 pounds of gold, 35,000 pounds of copper, and 700 pounds of silver. Recycling one million laptops can save energy that can be used in 3,000 homes for a year. Just think of those figures and how much more we can do if we increase our efforts.

Come visit our Mississauga electronics recycling facility today!