What’s the big deal? So you want to get rid of your old computer. Just put it in the trash. You’re just a drop in the bucket of that mountain of trash that the landfill processes every day. You know it’s probably not the best thing to do but who will ever know? Your small toxic contribution won’t cause problems, right? Wrong…

Unfortunately the irresponsible handling of household and corporate electronic components has led to an epidemic of poisoned land and groundwater around the globe.

Here are the facts:

  • Electronic equipment contains toxic compounds such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants.
  • These toxic compounds can leach into the soil and water supplies or contaminate our air, if electronics are sent to landfills or incinerated.
  • Discarded electronics, called e-waste, are the fastest growing waste stream in the U.S. By 2010 over 3 billion electronics will be scrapped or an average of about 400 million units a year1.
  • Currently, less than 25% of obsolete electronics are being recycled2. And the majority of the electronics collected for recycling or re-use are exported to developing countries with no worker safety or environmental programs in places3.
  • Local governments are spending more of their limited tax dollars managing e-waste.
  • International Association of Electronics Recyclers Industry Report, 2006. Available at: http://www.iaer.org/communications/indreport.htm
  • "Electronic Waste Management in the United States, Approach 1" Table 3.1 EPA530-R-08-009 US Environmental Protection Agency, July 2008. Available at: http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/docs/app-1.pdf
  • Electronic TakeBack Coalition:http://www.electronicstakeback.com and
    Basel Action Network; http://www.ban.org.

Be part of the solution. Join TAMSolutions in the fight against the epidemic of electronic waste pollution, by recycling your electronic surplus components at our facility. Go to tamsolutoins.com to learn more about TAMS and our efforts to recycle electronics. Our emphasis on reuse establishes TAMSolutions as a premier electronic recycling solution in the intermountain area. Here in Utah we have established an eight year track record of effectively and legally dealing with the growing problem of electronic waste.