What is technology recycling, and what does it combat?

Tech recycling, also known as electronic waste recycling, aims to combat the fastest-growing source of pollution in the world today, electronic and tech waste. In today’s world of constantly improving tech, technology has made up a significant portion of waste across the world. E-waste is only increasing, with an estimated 62 billion tons produced in 2024 alone. Electronic waste is made up of things like computers, household appliances, IT equipment, and electric tools. Due to today’s consumer-driven society and rapid advancement, tech that was new just a few years earlier can become “useless” to people with the release of new models. Older devices are thrown away, and can quickly pile up over a short period of time. E-waste is particularly dangerous for people and the environment, not just because it is almost entirely composed of non-biodegradable materials like metal and plastic, but because computers and other devices contain harmful and toxic materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, flame retardants, or beryllium, some of which are even carcinogens. E-waste that is not handled safely can pose a serious threat to the health of waste workers, the environment, and surrounding communities. If placed into landfills or incinerated, e-waste can poison the soil, ai,r and groundwater, along with anyone who comes into contact with it. An estimated 70% of toxic waste in landfills is e-waste, even though e-waste currently makes up only 3% of total waste in landfills.

Recycling old or broken technology holds the potential for not only making disposal of e-waste safer and more environmentally friendly, but also reduces the amount of essential materials needed to build new tech being wasted. An estimated $62 billion in key materials like lead, gold, silver, palladium, tantalum, aluminum and copper are lost every year due to inadequate recycling efforts. Only around 23% of tech is recycled right now, despite growing amounts of it being thrown away. The EPA estimates that 30 to 40 million PCs will be thrown away in the next few years in the US alone, and the National Safety Council estimates that 75% of all computers ever made and sold are now surplus. Over 100 million phones are thrown away every year in Europe, and according to a UNEP study, the amount of e-waste produced annually could rise by 500% over the next decade. E-waste would not only help curtail the damage caused by e-waste, but prevent wasting valuable, and often scarce, materials needed to create new technology. This would prevent ecological and human harm, make it easier to build new technology and reduce the need for companies to further damage the environment in pursuit of new resources.

Current efforts at tech recycling take many forms, but one of the most common is consumers donating their own unused tech to independent organizations that then reuse or scrap the old tech. If the tech is still viable, it may be repaired and donated or resold. If it is too broken or obsolete for further use, it can be manually dismantled for parts, while some portions are further shredded to separate out toxic materials and uncover valuable ones. Precious metals and elements are dissolved and reformed into ingots, glass and plastic fractions are sorted and resold to processors and wires are stripped for components.