When I was a kid, my family and I would occasionally take a trip to the local recycling center. The center was a maze of towers of aluminum cans, mountains of yard waste and stacks of paper. While we brought everything from glass bottles to cardboard boxes, we never brought any of our old computers or TV’s. This center, while still performing a great many services for the community, lacked the capability to handle and recycle e-waste, which has become one of the biggest waste products in the U.S. today.

E-waste is any one of the technological devices we use today that has, or is going to be, discarded. It can be anything from a personal computer to a cell phone, and while these things make our lives much easier in the present, their afteraffects can become quite costly if not kept in check.

According to the Consumer Electronic Association, the average American household owns around twenty four electronic devices. Such large amounts of personal electronics lead to things like the around 10 million computers to the nearly 100 million cell phones that Americans throw out each year, according to a National Geographic study in 2005.

The e-waste problem presents us with a two-headed arrow.

The major problem is that many of the modern electronics we use today contain hazardous materials like lead, arsenic and mercury.

On top of this, much of the e-waste is actually exported out of the U.S. and sent to developing nations like India and Indonesia.

Here, on the other side of the world, the many electronic devices are taken apart, often by women and children, and salvaged for scrap metals like copper. Then, once all the useful metals are extracted, the rest of the waste will simply be disposed into landfills.

E-waste has thus become a huge social and ecological problem. One of the keys to stemming its growth is simply educating the public. The Environmental Protection Agency offers many solutions for getting rid of your old electronics.

You can send them to local recycling plants that have the capability to dispose of them properly. If there is not one near you, there are other options that work at least just as well.

Some companies will actually pay you for old computers in order to safely harvest the internal metals. Want to be charitable? Many non-profit organizations will gladly take a donated phone or computer.

With such a focus on going green in our nation, it is hard to believe that such an important issue has received as little attention as it has. Recycling materials, especially e-waste, helps preserve the virgin materials still left on our planet.

By recycling your old computer or phone, you will help cut down on the toxic materials leaked into ground, reduce energy costs and maybe even help better the life of someone on the other side of the planet.

-Carson Painter is an international business and finance sophomore.