The Top Benefits of Electronics Recycling for the Environment

Electronics recycling delivers environmental benefits that span the material life cycle from mining to manufacturing to end of life. At the most fundamental level, certified electronics recycling prevents hazardous materials — lead, cadmium, mercury, beryllium, brominated flame retardants — from entering landfills where they leach into soil and groundwater. A single CRT monitor contains four to eight pounds of lead; a single rechargeable battery contains cadmium and other heavy metals. Multiply these quantities across the tens of millions of devices discarded each year and the scale of the contamination being prevented becomes clear.

Material recovery is the second major environmental benefit. Electronics contain concentrations of copper, gold, silver, palladium, and rare earth elements that exceed the concentrations found in primary ore deposits at most operating mines. Recovering these materials from recycled electronics reduces the demand for energy-intensive and environmentally disruptive primary mining. Copper smelters, precious metal refiners, and rare earth processors who receive recovered materials from electronics recyclers are displacing a proportional fraction of primary mining activity.

The lifecycle environmental benefit extends to energy savings throughout the manufacturing chain: recycled aluminum requires 95% less energy than primary production; recycled copper requires 85% less; recycled gold requires approximately 99% less. Every ton of electronics properly recycled through certified channels generates measurable energy savings and associated greenhouse gas reductions throughout the manufacturing economy. STS Recycling's processing is documented to enable lifecycle analysis and sustainability reporting. Call 866-770-2650.