E-Waste Will (Hopefully) Plateau In 2015
Pike Research released a report in 2009 about e-waste that gave us some good news, and some bad news. Unfortunately, the amount of e-waste in landfills will increase until the year 2015 where we will reach a global volume of 73 million tons. In 2007, the U.S. ALONE managed to generate over 3 million tons of e-waste. Makes the 73 million tons globally sound frighteningly possible, right? But here’s the good news: the amount of e-waste is predicted to plateau by the year 2015.
The “Electronics Recycling and E-Waste Issues” report determined that the new laws that companies and governments are implementing play a big role in the 2015 plateau. If anything, these laws will continue to come up. The efforts of non-profit groups and the media’s exposure of the effects of not responsibly recycling seem to be taking effect.
Pike Research named Cisco, Dell, HP, Motorola, Nokia, Research In Motion, Sprint Nextel, and Vodafone as leaders of company electronics recycling. They also determined that two big parts of this growing issue are the dumping of e-waste to developing third world countries and the low effort of the consumer to responsibly recycle.
It is estimated that less than 20% of e-waste is recycled today. I guess it took a large number like 73 million tons for us to finally get our act together! As long as the recycling laws keep coming and we keep spreading the word globally, we can stop the increase by 2015.
Hopefully reading this article will motivate you to dig through your attic and finally get rid of your old, dusty, unwanted electronics. Check out our list of acceptable materials to see what Sunnking can take off of your hands and responsibly recycle. If you want to get rid of your tech ASAP, find one of Sunnking's eScrap drop off locations or look at our list of upcoming events.