Waste Diversion and You: New life for your old electronics

Part three in a three-part series

It’s a new twist on an old gag.

Is your (spare) refrigerator running? If it is, the joke’s probably on you.

It’s estimated that operating a spare refrigerator or freezer in your basement or garage could be wasting up to 1,200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy a year. Similarly, tossing your electronics in the landfill is also a waste of energy—not to mention the danger posed by improperly disposing of potentially toxic materials.

After previous instalments on the four R’s, and household hazardous waste, we conclude our Waste Diversion and You series with some advice on recycling your old appliances and electronics.

So why should you recycle that old microwave, that cracked plasma TV, that old Star Trek phaser-style flip phone?

• Recycling appliances leads to an enormous reduction in energy consumption;
• Recycling appliances helps reduce the need for new raw materials, including steel, aluminum, copper, glass and plastic;
• Recycling electronics results in glass, metal, mercury, glycol, plastic and overall energy recovery;
• Recycling appliances reduces emissions of ozone-depleting substances and greenhouse gases, and releases of PCBs and mercury into the environment;
• Recycling electronics means that lead, zinc, cadmium, tin, indium and other elements are captured and processed—again, a significant savings on energy costs.

Electronic and appliance recycling drives are now commonplace. Many jurisdictions also have depots to take your old treadmills and e-waste.

And in some instances, you won’t even need to do the heavy lifting—with free pickup services offered through old appliance retirement programs.

In the world's conversation about energy, one point is beyond debate: Energy makes a vital contribution to people's quality of life, to society and to human progress. This is true today, and it will remain true in the future. That's why Energy Matters was created. We believe it's important to equip people with unbiased information so they may form opinions, join the conversation and feel confidence in the work and accomplishments of the energy sector. Energy Matters is an initiative that provides transparent information and perspective on energy. Here, we'll cover a range of topics: the scale of global energy; the ways energy is sourced and produced; current energy technology; forthcoming innovations; the world's future energy needs; and the sustainable sources of energy that will fill them. Because energy matters to everyone, we hope you'll rely on Energy Matters as an ongoing source of balanced information.