How to dispose e-waste?

These days, e-waste became a huge problem which needs to be considered. This article
can provide three main methods to help solving this problem.

Method 1: Reusing
Reusing is an effective and environmentally friendly way to deal with e-waste. You can
reuse an outdated electronic device by passing it on to your child, donate it to charity such
as Red Cross and sell it on second-hand website such as Gumtrees. There are four easy
steps in e-waste reusing process.
Step1: Items are carefully disassembled by technical people. Depending on the type of
device, some manual disassembly may occur.
Step 2: The remaining components will be decomposed by the machine. After technicians
complete the dismantling, they will transfer the remaining items and parts to the shredder.
At the same time, they also destroy the data of the device, so you don't have to worry
about your privacy.
Step 3: Raw materials are processed and sorted. This process involves the treatment of all
contaminants and the removal of all hazardous metals, so reuse is totally not harmful for
people.
Step 4: Reuse of e-waste. All the different components of e-waste go back into the supply
chain, and they can be reused to make almost anything.

Method 2: Landfill
However, if e-waste can not be reused, it comes to the next method, which is landfill.
Landfill means the removal of waste materials by burying. Interestingly, it is the oldest form
of waste treatment, and even in the past of China, many people at that time used landfill to
dispose the waste as well and it is still being used now. Historically, landfill has been the
most common method to dispose both e-waste and common waste but actually it is not a
good way. Talking about the disadvantages of landfill, it is bad for the environment, for
example, when e-waste ends up in landfill, many different environmental issues are
encountered, due to the materials it contains. International studies show that 70% of heavy
metals (e.g. lead, mercury, cadmium) in landfill come from e-waste. In addition, it is easy
to let people get sick because a lot of e-waste is buried by using landfill.

Method 3: Recycling
Compared with reuse and landfill, recycling is used more widely and it is the relatively best
way mainly because it helps to protect the environment. Recycling means e-waste is
dismembered and useful parts of them are used in other products. Interestingly, this
service is usually free and many recyclers usually acquires tons of them! The main types
of e-waste they want to collect are laptops, desktop computers, tablets, printers, faxes and
electronic items because they have more valuable parts. Let’s look at some benefits. Can
you answer a question firstly? Do you think e-waste means they have no value? The
answer is definitely no!!! There are still some valuable materials contained in e-waste
products which can be used again. Therefore, the first advantage is that it is economic.
Meanwhile, it prevents making the environment worse and reduce the damages caused by
hazardous materials. There are some recycling points in Melbourne to help you deal with
e-waste:
1. Computerbank Victoria Inc (1 Stawell St, North Melbourne VIC 3051)
2. TechCollect ( 5/455 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000)
3. E-Waste Victoria ( 177 Northbourne Rd, Campbellfield VIC 3061)

In summary, follow our tips of dealing with e-waste and it helps you solve a big daily
problem!

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