Selling Used Electronics Can Help You Save the World

Selling Used Electronics Can Help You Save the World

Growing up, I’ve come to regard environmental issues as a staple part of the sociopolitical sphere; something which apparently wasn’t much of a concern – at least, not to the masses – during the old- timey days (i.e. pre-‘Nam). When I was a kid, every Archie comic carried ads advocating the recycling of paper, bottles, aluminum cans, and whatnot, with Archie and the gang telling their readers to only “buy comics which use 100% recycled paper, like Archie comics!” Shortly thereafter, the focus shifted to the ozone layer apparently thinning out due to the harmful gases emitted by everyday things like spray cans, cars, and (to my befuddlement at the time) Styrofoam, which prompted a change to the way these products were manufactured by companies and used by consumers. And during the last few years, another type of pollution has reared its ugly head: E-waste; prompting us to sell broken electronics to e-recycling centers instead of just throwing them away.

E-waste (short for “electronic waste”) is the waste produced by discarded electronic devices like computers, tablets, and cell phones. More than the expected plastic and silicon pileups (with both already being notoriously difficult to recycle on their own), there are also hazardous chemicals like lead, cadmium, and beryllium which may leak from the batteries, capacitors, and other components of the devices. The presence of these chemicals makes electronic waste more dangerous than it ought to be, significantly increasing the danger level manifold.

This type of pollution was brought about by many trends in the technological world (particularly miniaturization and ever-increasing technology development cycles), as well as its aftereffects on consumer habits. In a nutshell, electronic devices have become cheaper to produce, making them more accessible purchase-wise to consumers; coupled with the fact that technologies become “outdated” (a relative term, to be sure) rather quickly because of new releases coming out every other cycle, causing landfills filled to the brim with electronic devices.

As a countermeasure, e-recycling was developed to diminish the effects of e-waste. Basically, e-recycling centers collect broken and used electronics and thoroughly inspect every one. They identify which parts are no longer usable and discard these using methods under compliance with the strictest recycling standards. They then repair the gadgets and refurbish them to work and look brand new. These gadgets are then sold to consumers at much lower prices than they were originally sold at.

As you can probably discern, e-recycling acts like a middleman to the whole second-hand purchasing process, the difference being that it is a much more effective and green-focused middleman. People generally do not prefer direct second-hand transactions (i.e. straight from the original owner to the new user) as they more often than not pose the possibility of defects only becoming apparent a long time after the purchase has already been made. With e-recycling, this problem is virtually nonexistent.

More than this, however, is the benefit that e-recycling brings to the environment; and until an ultimate solution to waste management is made (a utopian notion for now), it would serve us all well to to sell our broken electronics to e-recycling centers.