The holidays are arguably the most common electronics upgrade season of the year, which means plenty of people will be getting new shiny gadgets and recycling their old ones.
by POPSUGAR Tech
The holidays are arguably the most common electronics upgrade season of the year, which means plenty of people will be getting new shiny gadgets and recycling their old ones. Activists estimate that 50–80 percent of the 300 to 400 thousand tons of electronics collected for recycling in the US each year ends up overseas, meaning they probably aren't being recycled the way we imagine.
"Workers in countries such as China, India, and Nigeria then use hammers, gas burners, and their bare hands to extract metals, glass, and other recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to a cocktail of toxic chemicals," according to AP. Almost as troubling is the volume of used electronics that don't make it to any recycling plant. Here's more:
Most of the 2 million tons of old electronics discarded annually by Americans goes to US landfills, according to US Environmental Protection Agency data. But a growing number of states are banning such waste from landfills, which could drive more waste into the recycling stream and fuel exports, activists say.
Wondering how you can responsibly recycle your electronic goods? read more
You can't escape the grocery, electronics or movie rental store without seeing a small cell recycling drop box, but how can you dispose of larger, more ecologically dangerous gadgets? Electronics companies have — or been forced to! — put considerable resources into making their products recyclable. A handful of states have even passed laws that require companies to take back their goods (Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Sony all do so at no charge), but you can always be green by selling or gifting the item, or giving it to a reuse effort. 
