• THE PROBLEM WITH ELECTRONICS
• Problem Overview
• Quickly Obsolete
• Hard to Recycle
  • Not designed for recycling
  • Toxics in Electronics
• E-Waste Badly Managed
  • E-waste in landfills
  • Global e-waste dumping
  • Prison recycling
• OUR WORK FOR SOLUTIONS
• Overview
• Producer Takeback
  • You make it, you take it back
  • Who takes back
  • Take Back My TV
  • About the industry
• Green Design
  • About green design
  • Purchasing green products
  • EPEAT
• Responsible Recycling
  • What is responsible recycling?
    • Beware of fake recycling
    • Manufacturers Commitment
  • How to recycle electronics
    • Find a responsible recycler
    • Manufacturer takeback programs
    • The e-stewards program
  • "R2" is not the answer
  • Info for recyclers
• Legislation and Policy
  • State legislation
  • State legislative toolkit
  • Federal legislation

Printable Version

Open this page as a printable fact sheet (PDF).

Source: EPA Municipal Waste Study

This information comes from a waste study that the EPA compiles every year or two, called "The Municipal Solid Waste In the United States, 2007 Facts and Figures," November 2008.

Link to report.

Discards badly managed | E-waste in the landfill | Global dumping of e-waste | Prison recycling

The Problem With Electronics

Most E-Waste is Trashed, Not Recycled

Most e-waste ends up in our landfills and incinerators.

While many states are passing laws to prevent e-waste from going into their landfills and incinerators, it's still legal to trash most electronics. Currently more than 85% of discarded electronics end up in the trash, even though the hazardous chemicals in them them can leach out of landfills into groundwater and streams. Burning the plastics in electronics can emit dioxin.

What states have passed landfill bans?