What is the Fastest Growing Waste Stream in the World?

3
Oct

Maybe you landed on this blog without taking a look around our site or our other blog posts first, but if you did look around at all, we will save you the suspense. The fastest-growing waste stream in the world is e-waste. Let’s look at why that is and what you can do to help.

Why is E-Waste the Fastest Growing Waste Stream in the World?

Not only is e-waste the fastest-growing waste stream in the world, but it has been for many years now. There are many factors that contribute to this. For starters, many other industries have been held more accountable for their waste and reducing their footprint.

Meanwhile, electronics use has been on the rise for decades, and it’s only getting worse. Not only does every individual have more devices than ever before, but the lifespan of these devices has gone down. This problem is only further exacerbated at the corporate level. On average, the total weight of electronic consumption increases by 2.5 million metric tons every year. All those electronics have to go somewhere.

What Does Improper E-Recycling Look Like?

Reduce Your E-Waste

Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve heard reduce, reuse, recycle, but you’ll notice that “reduce” is the first step. Reducing often actually means buying smarter. Spend a little more money and buy electronics that are going to last longer. Buying a cheap new laptop or a bunch of them for your company is a good way to cut costs early, but you will likely run through those laptops more quickly, and then they end up as part of the growing e-waste stream.

Another way to reduce is to multipurpose your electronics when you can. Instead of buying everyone in your company a desktop and a laptop, consider just buying a laptop. Do your employees really need tablets? Do they need company phones? Are there other solutions that can work and reduce your footprint of electronics? You don’t have to upend the way your business works, just be mindful when making buying decisions.

Reuse Your E-Waste

When an electronic is past its usefulness at least as it was originally intended, what do you do with it? E-recycling is a good option, but before you do that you should consider if it can be reused in any capacity. We do have a special caveat for any devices that may hold data, you should get that data destroyed. But, you can typically destroy all the data on a laptop or other similar device and still reuse it. Sometimes this may require the purchase of a new SSD or HDD, but if you can reuse the device you should.

This doesn’t always mean you have to saddle employees with old equipment either. Maybe you were looking for a device to play music for the office, or someone needs a computer for working from home. Lastly, you can also consider reselling or even donating the IT assets. Any good e-recycling business like Sadoff can help you with that process.

How Are Computers Recycled?

Safely Recycle Your E-Waste

Recycling your e-waste properly doesn’t technically take it out of the waste stream, but it does ensure that all the hazardous materials continued within your e-waste get disposed of properly. E-waste includes a lot of hazardous materials and it is the number one contributor of toxic waste in landfills including things like mercury. When you have electronics that you can no longer find a use for, bring them to a trusted and certified e-recycling company like Sadoff. Reach out to us for a quote today!

Categorized in: E-Recycle