e-Waste Update: Continued Progress With a Chance of Disruption

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries ( ISRI ) sponsors this posting. Electronics are becoming more ubiquitous around the world and a greater source of potential recycled value. In 2000, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , the US generated 1.9 million tons of electronics and recycled only 190,000 tons of used e-waste or 10 percent. By 2015, the last year of data available, when the nation produced 3.09 million tons of electronics, the recycling rate had risen to 39.8 percent. Still, the U.S. generated 42 pounds of e-waste per person in 2016. e-Waste, as used electronics are known, contain more valuable metals by weight than raw ore in many cases. By capturing those used phones, computers, printers, and even cables, recyclers can reduce the energy required to make new products by up to 70 percent and reduce the need for mining raw materials. Everyone can help achieve the goal of sustainable electronics production by separating e-waste and sending it to specialized e-waste recycling programs. Yet not all Americans are aware that e-waste can be recycled. A 2016 Pew Research Center report found that only 12 percent of people said that people in their community are recycling e-waste. […]

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