Too Much Electronic Trash
Electronic waste is the fastest growing sector of the waste stream. In fact, 85% of our e-waste is sent to landfills and incinerators, and that’s not good for the planet. Electronics contain heavy metals and plastic made of various compounds that, as they break up over time, get released into the air, water and soil,potentially polluting the water we tap for drinking, washing and cleaning.
Communities are responding as the problem gets worse. Throwing e-waste away, even if it’s “only” electrical wires and cables, is illegal in the UK, much of
Europe, and numerous jurisdictions in the
United States.
Pollution aside, there’s another reason why it doesn’t make sense to trash e waste like wires and cables. They contain important and difficult to get metals like copper. Mining the copper needed to make cable pretty much destroys the environment around where the mines occur. Deep, open copper pits in places like
Butte, Montana are infamous for how ugly, polluting and destructive they are.
Though other rare metals are used to manufacture wires and cable as well, copper is ultimately the most widely used electrical and electronic conductor on Earth. In the past few years,
copper has become scarce, leading to higher prices, which in turns raises our cost of buying electronics, as well as more copper mines.
Recycling old wires and
cables is one way to reclaim copper without all that environmental destruction.