Why You Should Recycle Electronics Do you have a defunct laptop gathering dust under your bed? Is there a 4 megapixel digital camera with a jammed shutter in your sock drawer? Instead of throwing your old electronics in the trash, recycle them.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates Americans now dispose of more than 3.
2 million tons of e-waste every year.
e-Waste refers to all sorts of electronics, ranging from small products like batteries to larger devices such as computer monitors, cameras, printers, hard-drives, and televisions.
Throwing e-waste in the trash means putting more stress on America's already overburdened landfills.

• Many electronics contain plastics and other toxic materials that are not biodegradable.
  
• In addition, e-waste contains poisonous elements such as cadmium, lead and mercury.
  
• If simply buried in landfills, the toxins will eventually trickle down into the ground, potentially getting into groundwater or otherwise causing environmental problems.
  
• Many states now require by law that discarded electronics be recycled.
  

What is Toxic Trade? So you put all your outdated or broken cell phones, desktops, hard drives, laptops, and cameras in a box and took them to your local recycler.
Do actually know what that recycler will do with your cast off electronics? Electronics are being recycled in record numbers as more states require it and more companies collect and even pay for discarded items.
Unfortunately, not every local American recycler actually recycles the old electronics they collect.
As a 60 Minutes report showed in 2008, many recyclers have been shipping e-waste to China, Africa, and India to be processed by poorly paid workers.
After the valuable elements are extracted the rest is burned and dumped.
In some third-world recycling towns the water has turned gray from the leached toxins that washed out of nearby hills of e-waste during rainfall.
There is a recycling town in China where you can not breathe the air or drink the water, a town where the blood of the children is laced with lead.
Responsible Recycling of e-Waste Here are four ways to make sure your e-waste is properly recycled:

1. Find a Take-Back Program: Many manufacturers and retailers have take-back programs that allow customers to return at least some computer models and equipment when they no longer want them.
   Details and rules vary among companies: some will charge a fee, some will only take their own brand.
   Once they take it back, the e-waste may be refurbished for resale or it may be completely recycled.
   
2. Find ane-Steward: Unfortunately, most recyclers export your old devices, dumping them on developing nations.
   e-Stewards Recyclers are committed to the highest standard for globally responsible electronics recycling and refurbishment.
   You can go to the e-Steward website, http://e-stewards.
   org/find-a-recycler/, to find an e-Steward near you.
   
3. Donate for reuse if possible.
   Most reuse organizations are local non-profits, so check with your local solid waste agency for options near you.
   
4. Cell Phone Recycling.
   You can mail your old cell phones (for free) to some recyclers.
   Here are two good nationwide options, with companies that have signed the e-Steward Pledge not to export e-waste to developing countries: Capstone Wireless-they have a buy back program; Call2Recycle-The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp also accepts old cell phones for free recycling.
   

Lastly, stay informed and check your state government website for local programs, policies, and laws.