Electronic Waste Disposal
Where does my e-waste go after it leaves the recycling facility?
Your e-waste goes to the classic recyclers and smelters around the world, and therefore ends up at the OEMs, the original equipment manufacturers, who reuse all the commodities that leave our facility.
What happens to my old TV when I recycle it?
Your old TV comes into our facility and is bar-coded. It then goes through the de-manufacturing process where we strip down the plastics and then separate the CRT monitor which is crushed, take off the metal cords and put them in separate bins, and therefore then bale the plastics together, put the crushed glass with the crushed glass, and then bale the other metals and separate the metals into steel, copper, gold, and other metals for reuse.
What happens to the circuit boards on my computer?
What happens to the plastics from electronics?
Plastics are stripped off of all electronics and then put in a certain bin, and then eventually baled and sold to the plastic recyclers around the world for future re-use into brand new products.
Are electronic waste facilities regulated under federal law?
How do I know if an electronic recycler is properly disposing of e-waste?
An electronic recycler is properly disposing because a client has the right to order that facility by looking at their records, asking for whom their downstream vendors are and walking through their facility to see the processes and procedures they have underneath their roof. If their processes and the procedures look to you typically it would be a good facility, but make sure you get their ID and even contact who their downstream vendors are, because it is very critical to understand where their commodities are going, and if their commodities are not being land filled or dumped illegally into a third world nation. That's the essence of the great recyclers. Great processes and procedures underneath their roof followed by transparent downstream vendors, so you know that commodities are going to be reused at a later date.
What are the penalties for improper e-waste disposal?
The penalties for improper e-waste disposal vary. Unfortunately, some states and some jurisdictions are yet to have any penalties. The Federal Government has their own types of penalties. In California, they have their own types of penalties on what to do, from shutting down a facility, to fining a facility, eventually criminally charging the owners of that facility. The penalties are all across the board depending on where that facility sits, and whose jurisdiction it is in.
Why should I be concerned about the proper disposal of my e-waste?
We all live in one world and one environment. So whether you're watching this video in Spain, Germany, London, New York, or California, or in Shanghai, we all have one environment and it's up to us to take care of it. The appropriate disposal of electronic waste - which is the fastest growing solid waste stream in the world - is paramount to us preserving our environment and passing on a legacy of a better environment to our children and grandchildren than we inherited. We cannot continue to further liquidate the environment by disposing all the wonderful gadgets and technology that makes our life better on this earth everyday inappropriately. We have to get with the program and get rid of our e-waste in an environmentally friendly way. We're out of time. The moment of truth is here.
