Electronic Waste Is Common

Electronic waste is any old appliance that contains complex circuitry, circuit boards, or signal processing, as well as one or more hazardous components. Electronic waste can include:

• Computers and peripherals
• Copiers fax and copy machines
• Cell phones and wireless devices
• Printers
• Televisions and Monitors
• Stereos audio/stereo equipment
• Microwaves
• Cathode Ray Tubes
• VCRs
• DVD players
• Video Cameras
• Telephones
• Video game consoles

Electronic Waste Is Toxic

Consumer electronics contain toxics substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, PVC and brominated flame retardants. When electronic waste is put in landfills or incinerated, these toxic substances are released onto the air, soil, and water.

Each of these substances is toxic in it’s own right and, in combination, they may have even more serious impacts on our health.(1)

Each television or computer monitor can contain as much as eight pounds of lead.(2)

Cathode Ray Tubes are the largest source of lead in municipal waste.(2) Forty percent of the lead in U.S. landfills is suspected to have come from electronic waste.(3)

The Clean Computer Campaign reports that “electronic computer equipment is a complicated assembly of more than 1,000 materials, many of which are highly toxic, such as chlorinated and brominated substances, toxic gases, toxic metals, photo-active and biologically active materials, acids, plastics and plastic additives. Comprehensive health impacts of the mixtures and material combinations in the products are often not known.”(1)

The Electronic Waste Problem Is a Big One

• The average lifespan of personal computers is only 2.4 years.(5)
• Electronics already make up approximately 1 percent of the municipal solid waste stream. Research indicates that electronic waste is growing at three times the rate of other municipal waste.(6)
• Only 10 percent of the 6 to 13 million computers taken out of service each year in the U.S. are reused or recycled. About 15 percent are landfilled and a whopping 75 percent are stockpiled. An estimated 10 million more are sitting in storage somewhere, gathering dust.(7)
• The U.S. generates 5-7 million tons of electronic waste each year.(3)
• When federal regulations requiring a switch to digital TV go into effect, consumers will be forced to buy new equipment and dispose of their old systems.(3)

Electronic Waste Contains Toxic Compounds

• Lead is a major component of CRTs, the picture tube in most computer monitors and televisions.(11) Each CRT can contain as much as 8 pounds of lead, and CRTs are the largest source of lead in municipal waste.(2) Lead is also found in CPU cases, solder, and circuit boards. The funnel glass within a CRT is at least 20% lead oxide by weight – a substance that has been shown to cause mutagenic effects in experimental animals.(12) Forty percent of the lead found in the nation's landfills is suspected to have come from electronic equipment, mostly CRTs.(3) Lead can leach out of landfills, government studies have shown, polluting surrounding soil and ground water. CRTs leach, on average, more than four times the amount of lead the EPA defines as hazardous.(13) Lead poisoning has been linked with learning disabilities, behavioral problems and at very high levels, seizures, coma, and even death.(3)
• Cadmium is found in nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries, which are common in laptop computers(2), and in circuit boards. Cadmium can cause kidney and liver dysfunction, hypertension, and immune depression, and is a possible carcinogen.(14)
• Mercury is found in batteries and switches(11) and in the screens of laptops.(14) See SERC’s “Mercury Reduction” policy issues package for more information on the dangers of mercury exposure.
• Polyvinyl Chlorinated Biphenyls (PCB’s) are found in older capacitors.(11) PCB’s present a broad range of human health risks, including liver damage.(15)
• Plastic computer casings and cable covers release toxic dioxins when burnt.(11) Dioxin is a known human carcinogen.(14)
• Arsenic is found in integrated circuits.(11) Arsenic is a known human carcinogen.(16)
• Chromium is used as corrosion protection in steel.(11) It causes allergic reactions and may damage DNA.(3)
• Flame retardants in circuit boards, cables, and plastics(11) are endocrine disruptors that act like hormones in the body and can affect growth and development.(14)

Electronic Waste Can Be Recycled

• Around 97% of a computer can be recycled. Electronics don’t have to end up as waste – we should think of them as valuable and reusable.(4)
• In just one year, over 112 million pounds of valuable materials were recovered from disposed electronics for recycling and reuse. Materials included steel, glass, plastic, and precious metals.(6)
• Recycling on the average creates 1000 times more jobs per ton than mining or disposal.(8)

Consumers Are Willing to Recycle

• One-time collection events have been very successful in several states.
• Existing state and local collection programs have collected large volumes of electronic waste for recycling.
• More than 80% of Florida residents surveyed said they would take their electronic waste to a collection point if one was available.(9)
• Almost 80% of Massachusetts residents surveyed would be willing to pay a small fee to recycle old TVs and computers.(10)