Where does my "recycled" electronic stuff go?

Trashy Times: Where Do Recycled Gadgets Really Go? | WebEcoist | Weird, Strange Amazing

I'm going to think of these photos the next time I see one of those electronic recycling drives.

 

I wasn't really thinking of the "counterfeit" chip angle, but now that you mention it, I bet a lot of this stuff ends up back in consumer electronics since the e-waste gets shipped from North America over to China, "recycled" using various non-OSHA* approved methods and then reincorporated into the crap that gets shipped back to Walmart and Target that we can buy for cheap.














* OSHA stands for Occupational Safety and Health Administration - it is the organization that makes sure that US factories and workplaces aren't death traps.

 

I have donated working computers and other devices to Goodwill so they go to someone who might need them rather than throw them in the landfill.

But for work, I used to take old non-working monitors and other equipment to an e-waste recycler. We had to pay by the pound to dispose of the stuff, and it cost about $150 to take a pickup load for disposal. A 20 inch Sony Trinitron monitor weighs about 70 pounds. They did some recycling on site, but I think in some cases, they were just breaking stuff down into smaller pieces for shipment.

 

Yes, I ran into this article and this old thread http://priuschat.com/forums/environmental-discussion/58951-sulfur-hexafluoride.html today while searching for something else.

We think that electronics are cheap, but we aren't paying the full price for them anymore - we are pushing the environmental cost over to other places.

 

Here is a different related article:

Object Graveyards: The Afterlife of Everyday Things | WebEcoist | Weird, Strange Amazing

I always think its funny that some people are worried about Prius batteries in the landfill, but not concerned about cell phone and laptop batteries in the landfill.

 

In the US, most of the lower model cell phones are "free" when you sign up for a 2 year contract with the carrier. If you cancel the contract before the 2 years are up, then you pay a cancellation fee of ~ $150 -175 (which is essentially the cost of the phone). They don't usually want the phone back since the models seem to change almost weekly. If your phone doesn't last for the 2 years, some carriers will allow you to get another phone as long as you sign up for another 2 years of service. Its a perpetual cycle that generates mountains of obsolete cell phones.

I don't like monthly payments and I don't use my cell phone enough to justify a contract, so I have a prepaid cell where I buy $100 of minutes a year which is way more than I use. The downside is that the phone is not that great, but it works well enough for me and I save hundreds of dollars compared to having a contract.

 

Well, in an unintentional way it is when the lead comes back to us in the paint used for childrens' toys. :madgrin: