Reuse & Recycle

The first question to ask is what really is recycling? Recycling is the process of collecting materials that are often considered trash and remanufacturing them into new products that can be resold and used again as brand new the benefit is one that we do not need to destroy Mother Nature for this! It is made possible by people who separate the recyclable products from their trash and send the items to a recycling center where the products are reprocessed into new items. Recycling can also include reusing products for different purposes in your own home instead of throwing them away, such as using an old coffee can as a planter or a milk carton as a bird feeder.

Next question would be what is computer recycling? Every year 3.2 million tons of electronic waste, mostly from computers, is dumped into U.S. landfills every year. Many computer parts can be reused or recycled into new parts or scrap metal. Electronics are quickly becoming America’s fastest-growing trash product, and they are taking up huge amounts of landfill space. What most people don’t realize is that these computers contain toxic chemicals such as lead oxide, mercury, nickel, zinc and cadmium, and they are very hazardous to humans and the environment. Consumers need to be aware that almost all computer parts can be recycled and reused.

Computer recycling is the process of recycling and refurbishing old computer parts into new, usable parts. You can either send your old computer to a refurbishing business to be fixed, cleaned and resold or donated to schools and non-profit organizations, or you can send it to a recycling facility where metal, plastic and glass parts can be broken down and molded into new parts.

Here are some parts of the computer that can be recycled:

 

• Glass monitor
• Keyboard
• CD Rom drive
• Plastic case
• Cathode ray tube (CRT)
• Cables
• Copper in power cord
• Metal from circuit board
• Printer cartridges
• Batteries

The benefits of recycling computer are a thousand fold such as Computer recycling helps the environment in three important ways:

 

1. It saves scarce landfill space
2. It avoids damage to the environment and human health, by ensuring harmful materials such as lead are handled property.
3. It enables useful components and materials, such as metals and plastics, to be recovered for re-use and recycling, rather than thrown away

The Computer Recycling Programme includes all of these benefits and provides an environmentally sound means to dispose of computer waste.