What would happen if we stopped recycling?

If we stopped recycling today and never refurbished, reused, or repurposed another time, we would continue to add to the more than 50 million tons of e-waste that gets thrown out each year. TO put this number into perspective, that is the same as throwing out 1,000 laptops every second for a year straight. 

But what makes e-waste different from other items? The answer is that electronic items have some very toxic chemicals in them which are not good for our water, air, and environments. Let’s explore a few and what they are. 

Lead is used in just about every electronic item including vehicles, televisions, mobile phones, and computers. Some less known items that contain lead are keyboards, mice, remote controls, and computer monitors. Most items that contain an internal battery, such as a smartphone, contain lead inside of the batteries.