This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Broward chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.
Where we’ve been. Where we are. Where we’re going.
Electronics Taking Over Our Home!
Predicted Electronic Purchases in the US for 2012 (in millions):
- Laptops, iPads, Cell Phones, Tablets/E – readers, and TV’s are growing in great numbers.
- 5 -7 years = A TV’s lifespan
- A PC’s lifespan = 3 – 4 yearsÂ
- The average US household has 24 electronic products
- So, where are they now?
We’ve Created This E – Graveyard!
- Mobile: 135,000,000 are trashed annually.
- TV’s: 23,500,000 end up in landfills yearly.
- Computers: 31,300,000 disposed of each year.
- 82% of discarded electronics are thrown away.
- Total 384,000,000 electronic products end up in landfills
Effects of Our E – Waste:
- Burning the plastics in e – waste emits carbon dioxin!
- Hazardous chemicals in discarded electronics spread into ground and drinking water!
- E – waste in landfills releases greenhouse gases equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 178,000 carsL
Less Than 18% of E – Waste is Recycled!
- 40% computers
- 33% hard copy devices
- 17% TV’s
- 11% mobile devices
- ^18% less than a quarter of all e – waste is recycled
Learn The Value of Recycling E – Waste!
- For every 10,000 tons of material disposed, 296 jobs are created.
- Recycling aluminum saves 90% of the energy it would take to mine new aluminum.
- Recycling 1 million cell phones would recover 50 pounds of gold, 550 pounds of silver, 20 pounds of palladium, and 20,000 pounds of copper, which values at almost $2 million!Â
Make sure to go onto www.companycycle.com for more information!Â