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According to several studies, we dump more than 140,000 tones of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos and small home appliances into landfills each year. That’s equivalent to the weight of about 28,000 adult African elephants or enough uncrushed electronic waste to fill up the Toronto Skydome every 15 years.

Old computer equipment such as monitors, keyboards, central processing units (CPU’s) printers, mice, etc.–must be specially managed since their printed circuit boards and cathode ray tubes (CRT’s) contain toxic metals. The amount of lead in CRT monitors (to protect the user from radiation) is usually about five pounds or 25 percent by weight. Circuit boards typically contain cadmium, mercury and chromium. The package is housed in brominated, flame-retardant plastic. These substances build up over time in the environment and in our bodies and have been shown to impair neurological developmental in children. Other materials like the toner in printers are proven carcinogens.

Electronic waste, or e-waste, includes products such as computers, keyboards, monitors, printers, televisions, cell phones, data storage devices, and VCR/DVD players- just about anything with a circuit board or power cord. Even though e-waste currently comprises less than 4% of the total solid waste stream in the United States, it’s been estimated that the volume of e-waste is increasing 2 to 3 times faster than other waste streams (e.g. paper or yard waste). For example, 490 million personal computers were retired between 2000 and 2005, and the number is expected to increase to 955 million between 2005 and 2010. The recycling rate of electronic products, on the other hand, was only about 10% in 2003. Thus there is a rising amount of e-waste with only a tenth of it being managed in a way that helps to prevent pollution and promote resource conservation.