This week is Earth week so I would like to take a little time to inform you of a major increasing problem that is occurring within our environment in the electronic market.

Electronic Waste or better known as E-Waste has become one of the world’s largest ecological problems. All over the world thousands and thousands of individuals produce a lot of E-waste because most people do not take the time to recycle many of these items that have broken or no longer work. I did not realize how much toxic material was in all the out of date products that we try to dispose of but there is a lot. There20are 4 main types of substances that you do not want to come in contact with, such as Mercury, lead, Hexavalent chromium, and even Cadmium that are in many of these items.

This specific type of e-waste has been known to cause a variety of different health problems that would even include cancer. The problem with thrown away electronic goods is that they have really been piling up and taking a major toll on our environment. It is mind boggling when you stop to think that out of 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste, only approximately 11.4% will get recycled, and this is every single year!

This is a phenomenal sum of e-waste that is made up mostly of old electronics that contain the harmful substances we all try to avoid. Computer monitors, televisions, batteries, and many other electronics are generally sent over seas to various countries like India and China. Some of the poor communities try to work on the dismantled items not realizing all the health20risks that they are handling.

Most people, like myself think that we are doing a wonderful task by recycling, but what we do not understand is that it is actually being sent somewhere else for other people and even children to dismantle them for just a couple of dollars.

E-waste toxins are also very hazardous because it can leak and contaminate our water, air, and even our food supply. So the next time that you are considering recycling always remembers the e-waste!

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