A Complete Know-Why Guide
Have you ever wondered what happens to your laptop or other electronic devices when it gets damaged and is beyond repair? How to recycle a laptop? Do you throw it in your dustbin along with your regular waste? If so, don’t repeat the same.
Electronic waste or E-waste is extremely toxic for the environment you live in. So, every individual should recycle their electronic waste. If you are wondering how you should be recycling all your E-waste, you are absolutely in the right place, since today we will talk about the facts everyone should know about recycling a laptop. Continue reading this article to know more about it.
Laptop Recycling: What Is It?
Today, electronic devices have become indispensable to use. Irrespective of age, the surviving generation is completely hooked to mobile devices, laptops, and computers all day – either for recreational, educational, or work purposes.
Once a laptop becomes non-functional, it is usually discarded. And all the discarded systems are brought together where every component, including the raw materials, is disassembled and separated before the recycling process of E-waste is initiated. As a result of this procedure, the production of raw materials for laptops has inflated rapidly. With this inflating quantity, the wastage by discarded laptops is increasing every other day.
Facts About Recycling A Laptop
In this section, we will be discussing the facts that you should know before recycling a laptop.
- Laptop Waste Consists Toxic Waste
You have to keep your surrounding environment clean and free of toxicity. As a responsible human being, you should have a clear understanding of the quantity of all the harmful elements brought about by the components of a laptop.
You should know that while you are dumping the raw materials, it occupies 2% of the whole garbage. But it has been scientifically proven that these harmful elements hold up to as much as 70% of toxic waste in the environment. So, you must keep an account for these things in your mind before executing the procedure.
- Hazardous Waste
You should know that all the laptop elements discarded in the garbage generate E-waste to the environment. These discarded components are extremely hazardous and toxic materials for the environment as it contains – Cadmium, Polyvinyl Chloride, Mercury, Barium, Lead, and Lithium.
It is essential to discard these raw elements very carefully while recycling otherwise, it has the capability of contaminating the groundwater, which will affect the lives of people.
- Found in Incinerators
When you discard a laptop for recycling, you should remember that its components are required to be altered. Most of the time, the discarded components are thrown away and are found in landfills and incinerators, which are never recycled. These incinerators generate enormous quantities of waste to the environment.
- Issues with Security
In the present-day scenario, the whole world is on its way to earning extensive digitalization. With almost 70% of the world being entirely digitized, every other individual ends up discarding some extremely personal forms of electronic objects in any place.
We sometimes have a habit of throwing away our unused or dysfunctional sim cards, memory cards, hard drives, etc., inside our dustbin or on the road or sometimes in our neighborhood dumping ground. Unknowingly these objects might get into the hands of cybercriminals and acutely misuse these objects, and they can even go to the extent of breaching personal data.
- Inflated Job Opportunities
You should know that recycling a laptop can procure great job opportunities. With every passing day, the laptop recycling industries are increasing across the globe, and with this, 296 jobs are being created on average.
- Reusable Waste
All of us feel that anything that stops working and goes to the point beyond repair can be of absolutely no use to anyone. However, manufacturers can always reuse laptop wastes. And as a result, landfill space can be saved, and recycled items will manufacture new components.
- Contains Precious Metals
When laptops are recycled, valuable metals like silver, copper, gold, palladium, etc., can be extracted.
- Virtual Recycling
After all the parts are disassembled, many parts of laptops are found to hold great valuation. All the components can be used in some of the other industries.
- Easy Recycling At Corporate Level
Recycling a laptop can be as easy as recycling papers at the corporate level with the help of a Certified e-Steward.
- Encouraging Manufacturers and Retailers
All the manufacturers and retailers of laptops highly encourage recycling of laptops, and they accept all kinds of devices irrespective of their condition or the place of purchase.
To Conclude
Recycling a laptop can save revenues as well as the environment. However, recycling requires great care; otherwise, it can generate a great amount of toxicity to the environment we are living in. If you have a dysfunctional laptop with you, you can always consider recycling it.
Motivated to learn more about recycling ? Read our article about sustainable waste management.
Author: Felix Coleman
