Electronics Recycling

Ecycling.com in conjunction with Fedex Office will allow you to drop-off any electronics equipment except for kitchen appliances, monitors, or televisions.
There are over 1600 Fedex locations in the United States.

Fedex Office Drop-Off Location Finder

Yes Ecycling.com and FedEx now have a electronics recycling partnership! There are ways to take to improve the visibility of this Ewaste problem and FedEx has stepped up to the plate.

The Definition and meaning of "Ewaste" includes all secondary computers, entertainment devices electronics, mobile phones and other electronic devices, whether they have been sold, donated, or discarded by their original owner. The defintion of E-waste includes used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling or disposal. Others define the reusable (working and repairable electronics) and secondary scrap (copper, steel, plastic, etc.) to be "commodities", and reserve the use of the term "waste" for residue or material which was represented as working or repairable but which was discarded by the buyer.

Debate continues over the distinction between "commodity" and "waste" electronics definitions. Some exporters may deliberately leave obsolete or non-working equipment mixed in loads of working equipment (through ignorance, or to avoid more costly treatment processes for 'bad' equipment). On the other hand, some importing countries specifically seek to exclude working or repairable equipment in order to protect domestic manufacturing markets. "White box" computers ('off-brand' or 'no name' computers) are often assembled by smaller scale manufacturers utilizing refurbished components. These 'white box' sales accounted for approximately 45% of all computer sales worldwide by 2004, and are considered a threat to some large manufacturers, who therefore seek to classify used computers as 'waste'.

While a protectionist may broaden the definition of "waste" electronics, the high value of working and reusable laptops, computers, and components (e.g. RAM), can help pay the cost of transportation for a large number of worthless "commodities". Broken monitors, obsolete circuit boards, short circuited transistors, and other junk are difficult to spot in a containerload of used electronics.

Until such time as equipment no longer contains such hazardous substances, the disposal and recycling operations must be undertaken with great care to avoid damaging pollution and workplace hazards, and exports need to be monitored to avoid "toxics along for the ride".

Lead - is often found in PVC, solder, and CRT monitors.

Mercury - Widely used in barometers, manometers, thermometers, float valves, computer circuit boards, fluorescent tubes, sphygmomanometers, laptops, auto parts, batteries, and other scientific measurement devices.

Cadium - This toxic substance is found in cell phone batteries and other electronic device's batteries.

Each of these substances if exposed to the correct amounts can kill. We need to be responsible and ensure broken and old electronics never make it to a landfill or left on the side of the street. These substances were not meant to be used as fertilizer in the soil, ingested by animals, a additive to our drinking water.