E-waste often times goes to landfills and bodies of water, making them poisonous because people do not dispose of them properly. When disposed of properly, it is sometimes shipped to factories to be repurposed. Other times, even if it is disposed of properly, it goes to villages in places like China, India, and Nigeria to sit there just as it would in a landfill.
E-waste, also knows as electronic waste, is comprised of the devices that are no longer useful to their users. It is a very toxic substance because of the materials they are made of. It is the fastest growing form of waste in America. As the problem piles up (literally), action must be taken.
20-50 million metric tons of e-waste are discarded every year.
Only 29% of all e-waste is recycled properly
Recycling one million laptops saves the energy comparable to the electricity used by 3,657 U.S. homes in a year, according to the EPA.
Its estimated that 40% of the significant metals in U.S. landfills come back from discarded electronics.