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FAQ's
General Information on E-Waste
- How much e-waste is in the waste stream?
- How much e-waste is recycled?
- How many consumer electronics are still in use or storage, of those sold since 1980?
- How much e-waste is exported?
- What are the substances of potential concern in electronics?
- Are cell phones that are collected for reuse or recycling going to be managed in a safe way?
- What products can be made from the materials recovered by recycling cell phones?
How to Recycle or Donate Used Electronics
- How much does it cost to recycle my e-waste?
- How can I arrange a pick up of my e-waste?
- As a business, how do I choose between sending my used electronic equipment for reuse or recycling?
- What should I do with my cell phone before I donate or recycle it?
- What should I do with my computer equipment before I recycle it?
- How do I recycle my cell phone, batteries and accessories?
- Which wireless devices can be reused or recycled?
- What happens to a cell phone after it is collected?
Benefits of Reuse/Recycling
- What are the environmental benefits of reusing and recycling e-waste?
- What environmental benefits do we get from recycling cell phones?
- How does recycling cell phones reduce mining of metals?
- Microwave Fee - $10
- CRT Monitors - $10 minimum (depends on size)
- Do you want to provide a community service by donating equipment?
- Do you want a tax deduction for your contribution (ensure that the organization is a not-for-profit corporation as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (501(c) tax exempt status)?
- What are your data security needs?
- What are your data security needs?
- Do you want your equipment back out in the resale market place?
- Do you want the equipment demanufactured into raw materials (i.e. metals, plastics, glass) to be marketed as recyclables?
- Do you want the equipment destroyed?
General Information on E-Waste
How much e-waste is in the waste stream?
Used consumer electronics represent less than two percent of the municipal solid waste stream. In 2005, discarded tv’s, pc’s, peripherals (including printers, scanners, faxes), mice, keyboards and cell phones totaled about 2 million tons. Of that, about 80-85% (1.5 to 1.9 million tons) was discarded, primarily in landfills.
In 2005, discarded tv’s, pc’s, peripherals (including printers, scanners, faxes), mice, keyboards and cell phones were recycled at a rate of about 15-20 percent (345,000 to 379,000 tons). The recycled/disposed split remained fairly constant between 1999-2005. Although recycling continues to increase, the percentage recycled remains constant because of the ever-increasing number of electronics available for end of life management. For more information see Electronics Waste Management in the United States.
How many consumer electronics are still in use or storage, of those sold since 1980?
Almost half (or 976 million units) of products sold between 1980 and 2004 are still in use or reuse. Nine percent (180 million units) of products sold between 1980 and 2004 are still in storage.
To date, we have only examined export of CRTs. In 2005, approximately 61 percent (about 107,500 tons) of CRT monitors and TVs collected for recycling were exported for remanufacture or refurbishment. The next largest portion, about 14 percent (or 24,000 tons) was CRT glass sold to markets abroad for glass-to-glass processing.
Please read the news article, "High Tech Trash" for more information.
What are the substances of potential concern in electronics?
Lead, mercury, cadmium and brominated flame retardants are among the substances of concern in electronics. These substances are included in the products for important performance characteristics, but can cause problems if the products are not properly managed at end of life.
Lead is used in glass in TV and PC cathode ray tubes as well as solder and interconnects; older CRTs typically contain on average 4 lbs of lead (sometimes as much as 7 lbs in older CRTs), while newer CRTs contain closer to 2 lbs of lead.
Mercury is used in small amount in bulbs to light flat panel computer monitors and notebooks.
Brominated flame retardants are widely used in plastic cases and cables for fire retardancy; the more problematic ones have been phased out of newer products but remain in older products.
Cadmium was widely used in ni-cad rechargeable batteries for laptops and other portables. Newer batteries (nickel-metal hydride and lithium ion) do not contain cadmium.
PVC is used in wire and cable sheathing.
For a more complete list of hazardous materials in e-waste visit our "Hazardous Materials" page.
Are cell phones that are collected for reuse or recycling going to be managed in a safe way?
Most cell phones that are collected in the
What products can be made from the materials recovered by recycling cell phones?
Almost all of the materials used to manufacture a cell phone can be recovered to make new products. Metals, plastics, batteries and the packaging materials can be recycled and turned into new products.
Cell phones contain a number of different metals - gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, copper, tin, lead, brass and zinc - that can be extracted and recovered in the recycling process. The recovered metals can be used by a number of different industries such as jewelry, plating, electronics, plumbing, automotive, and art foundries. Products that can be manufactured from the recovered materials include automotive catalytic converters, plumbing faucets and piping, and gold or silver jewelry.
The plastic on the cell phone can also be recycled. It can be recycled into new products as garden furniture, license plate frames, non-food containers and replacement automotive parts. Due to its high thermal value, the plastic could alternatively be used as a fuel.
The cell phone packaging materials can also be recycled and made as a component of fiber board manufacture. When the rechargeable battery can no longer be reused, the battery can be recycled into other rechargeable battery products.
How to Recycle or Donate Used Electronics
How much does it cost to recycle my e-waste?
At this time
How can I arrange a pick up of my e-waste?
The easiest way to arrange the pick up of your e-waste is to give us a call at 614.209.4471 or visit our "Schedule a Pickup" page and fill out the form and email it to us.
As a business, how do I choose between sending my used electronic equipment for reuse or recycling?
Define clear objectives of what you want to be done with the equipment and the ultimate disposition of the equipment and/or component parts. Consider asking yourself the following questions:
Reuse and Donation
Demanufacture/Recycle
- Terminate your service.
- Clear the phone’s memory of contacts and other stored information.
- Manually delete all information, and follow instructions from your wireless carrier or the product manual on how to conduct a factory hard reset; or
- Use data erasing tools that are available on the Web. One tool can be found at www.wirelessrecycling.com, look for phone data eraser.
- Remove your SIM card and shred or cut it in half. If you are not sure if your phone uses a SIM card or if you need assistance removing your SIM card, contact your service provider or manufacturer.
- Wireless phone handsets;
- Personal digital assistants (PDAs) that operate on wireless networks;
- Blackberries;
- Wireless computer cards; and
- Accessories such as spare batteries, phone chargers, cables, headsets, earpieces, cases, clips and cradles.
At Ohio eWaste Recycling, all electronic equipment that has the capability to store personal information and data will be send to a shredder, making any attempt to recover information impossible.
What should I do with my cell phone before I donate or recycle it?
Prior to donating or recycling your cell phone, there are three things you need to do:
Our recycling process will destroy any data storing device and its personal information once the shredding process is complete, but it is still a good idea to try and remove any personal information before hand.
What should I do with my computer equipment before I recycle it?
Follow the same procedure as for cell phones, stated above. Remove any information, files and data before surrendering your equipment. Although our recycling and destruction process will make any attempt to recover information impossible, taking extra security measures is always helpful.
How do I recycle my cell phone, batteries and accessories?
Same as any other electronic, bring it in or schedule a pickup. Cell phones and their accessories can be recycled easily and conveniently.
Which wireless devices can be reused or recycled?
Most wireless devices and their accessories have material that can either be reused or recycled:
What happens to a cell phone after it is collected?
Once a cell phone is dropped off, it will go through the same process as any other electronic that enters our facility. For more information on the recycling process visit our "Process" page.
Benefits of Reuse/Recycling
What are the environmental benefits of reusing and recycling e-waste?
Electronic products are made from valuable resources, such as precious and other metals, plastics, and glass, all of which require energy to mine and manufacture them. Reusing and recycling these materials from end-of-life electronics conserves our natural resources and avoids air and water pollution, as well as greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by manufacturing new products.
What environmental benefits do we get from recycling cell phones?
Recycling your cell phone helps protect the environment in a number of ways. Cell phones are made from valuable resources such as precious metals, copper, and plastics —all of which require energy to mine and process. Recovering these materials by recycling avoids the need to mine and process new materials, which in turn, conserves our natural resources, and avoids air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. For example, if the 100 million cell phones ready for end of life management in 2006 had been recycled , we would have saved enough energy to power approximately 194,000 US households with electricity for one year.
How does recycling cell phones reduce mining of metals?
Cell phones have a number of different metals in them which can be recycled – copper, gold, silver, and palladium. Take gold, for example. If we recycled 100 million cell phones, 3.4 metric tons of gold could be recovered - allowing that amount of gold to enter back into production without being mined. Because the mining and processing steps were avoided, 5 .5 million tons of loose soil, sand, and rock would not have to be moved and large quantities of waste also would be avoided. Another result is that substantially less fuel would be used, dramatically reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases.
Similar calculations could be made for the other metals used in the manufacture of cell phones. 100 million cell phones contain 1600 metric tons of copper, 35 metric tons of silver, and 1.5 metric tons of palladium.
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July 14, 2008
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2050 East Williams Road, Columbus Ohio 43207 | Phone: 614.209.4471 |
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Copyright © 2008 Ohio eWaste Recycling |
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