E-Cycle Washington is a Washington State program that provides free electronics recycling to residents, small businesses, schools, and other organizations. E-Cycle partners with local recycling companies, who are paid to collect electronics on the state’s behalf. As of today, E-Cycle Washington has recycled over 433 million pounds of electronics and is partnered with 231 collection companies across the state.
The organization is the result of a 2006 Washington State law requiring major manufacturers to ensure that the devices they are selling are eventually safely disposed of. The cost of ensuring this proper disposal is calculated and included in companies’ overhead costs, making this service free for consumers. Manufacturers split up these costs based on the number of devices they need to recycle and their company’s share in the entire market.
There are some limits in terms of which electronics can be recycled with no fee. E-Cycle Washington accepts televisions, computers, laptops, monitors, tablets, e-readers, and portable DVD players at zero cost, while some partnered collectors will take other electronics such as printers or keyboards at no cost or a small fee.
Additionally, it is important to note that E-Cycle Washington does not ensure the security of the information on the drives of the devices being recycled. Because of this, it is important to wipe your own drives before recycling. However, if you utilize certain partners, such as Living Green Technology, this step is unnecessary. Living Green Technology wipes all devices past Department of Defense (DoD) and NIST standards, meaning that your information is secure and safely destroyed. Living Green Technology has also expanded its accepted electronic devices for recycling to include office telephones, cables, software accessories, servers, video game consoles, modems/routers, printers, and telecom systems.
With rapidly changing technology, electronic devices are becoming obsolete at a faster rate than ever before. Consumers are buying more electronics and throwing even more away. However, many electronic devices are built with toxic materials such as mercury, lead, cadmium, beryllium and chromium, which are being added to our landfills. These toxic materials are destroying our environment and are one of the largest producers of pollution from waste. Moreover, the resources used to produce electronics are quite valuable and contain precious metals that can be reused in the production of even more electronics. Consequently, it is critical that people properly recycle their electronics through recycling programs such as E-Cycle Washington.
If you would like to learn more about E-Cycle Washington, click here.
If you would like to learn more about Living Green Technology’s services, click here.
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