About Electronic Waste
Understanding e-waste—what it is, why it matters, and what responsible recycling looks like—is the foundation for making better choices about the electronics we retire.
The Scale of the E-Waste Challenge
Electronics have transformed modern life, connecting us to information, entertainment, each other, and the systems that run our economy. But this transformation has come with a cost: a growing mountain of discarded devices that the world struggles to manage responsibly.
Electronic waste is the fastest-growing solid waste stream in the world. The combination of rapid product obsolescence, falling prices that make replacement easier than repair, and expanding global access to electronics means that billions of devices are discarded every year. Managing this waste stream responsibly is one of the defining environmental challenges of our era.
The challenge is compounded by the dual nature of electronics: they contain both valuable materials worth recovering and hazardous substances that must be kept out of the environment. Proper recycling captures the value while containing the hazards. Improper handling—landfilling, incineration, or informal processing—destroys value while releasing the hazards.
What's Inside Your Electronics
Modern electronics are extraordinarily complex. A single device can contain dozens of elements from the periodic table—valuable, hazardous, and everything in between.
| Material | Found In | Value / Hazard | Environmental Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Circuit boards, connectors | High value | Low (if recovered) |
| Silver | Contacts, circuit boards | High value | Low (if recovered) |
| Copper | Wiring, circuit boards | High value | Low (if recovered) |
| Lead | CRT glass, solder, batteries | Moderate value | High — neurotoxin |
| Mercury | LCD backlights, switches | Low value | Very high — neurotoxin |
| Cadmium | Batteries, semiconductors | Low value | High — carcinogen |
| Lithium | Batteries | High value | Moderate — fire risk |
| Cobalt | Batteries | High value | Moderate |
| Palladium | Capacitors, circuit boards | Very high value | Low (if recovered) |
| Brominated flame retardants | Plastic casings, PCBs | No value | High — generate dioxins when burned |
The Global E-Waste Trade Problem
How Electronics Get Exported
Electronics are often exported under the guise of charitable donation or "functional reuse." While genuine secondhand electronics do have value in markets with lower purchasing power, a significant fraction of what is labeled as charitable donation or reuse is actually non-functional equipment or end-of-life devices that will immediately become waste in the destination country—waste without the infrastructure to handle it responsibly.
The Basel Convention, an international treaty signed by most nations, is intended to prevent the export of hazardous wastes from developed to developing countries. However, enforcement is inconsistent, and loopholes have historically allowed significant volumes of hazardous e-waste to be exported. Investigations by the Basel Action Network using GPS trackers have repeatedly documented this practice, tracing electronics from U.S. recyclers to informal processing sites in Asia and Africa.
The Impact on Communities
Informal e-waste processing sites—such as those documented in Guiyu, China; Agbogbloshie, Ghana; and many other locations—are sites of significant environmental and human health harm. Workers at these sites, including children, are exposed daily to toxic substances. Research has documented extremely elevated levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, and other toxins in the blood of residents of these communities.
The soil surrounding informal e-waste sites can contain lead concentrations hundreds of times higher than safe levels. Waterways are contaminated with heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants. These environmental impacts persist for decades and affect not just the workers but entire communities, including people who have no connection to the e-waste trade.
Choosing a certified recycler like AK Recycling—one that holds e-Steward certification—ensures your electronics do not contribute to these harms.
Responsible Recycling in Los Angeles
California's CEW Program
California's Electronic Waste Recycling Act created a funded system for responsible e-waste recycling. The recycling fee paid at purchase funds certified recyclers like AK Recycling to collect and process covered devices at no charge to you.
Free Drop-Off
AK Recycling accepts most electronics at no charge at our Los Angeles facility. Drop off your old computers, phones, TVs, and other devices during business hours—no appointment needed for standard quantities.
Business Pickup Service
Businesses with larger quantities can schedule a free pickup. We serve all of Los Angeles County and surrounding areas, handling everything from single server rooms to entire data centers.
Data Security
Concerned about data on your old devices? Our certified data destruction services ensure your information is completely and verifiably destroyed before devices are processed.
Certified Processing
As an e-Steward certified recycler, AK Recycling processes everything we collect through verified, certified downstream processors. Nothing is exported in violation of international law. Learn about our e-Steward commitment.
Complete Documentation
Every recycling job comes with documentation—certificate of recycling, itemized manifests for businesses, and certificates of data destruction for storage devices. Documentation suitable for compliance and audit purposes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Electronic waste, commonly called e-waste or WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), refers to discarded electronic devices and equipment that has reached the end of its useful life or is no longer wanted by its owner. The category is broad, encompassing everything from large items like televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines to small devices like smartphones, tablets, and earbuds. In a narrower sense commonly used in the recycling industry, e-waste often refers specifically to consumer electronics and information technology equipment.
What makes e-waste distinct from ordinary solid waste is its composition. Electronic devices contain complex mixtures of materials—some valuable, some hazardous, and many that are both. A single smartphone contains dozens of elements from the periodic table, including precious metals like gold, silver, and palladium; industrial metals like copper, aluminum, and tin; specialty metals like indium and cobalt; and toxic substances like lead, mercury, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants. Processing these materials responsibly requires specialized knowledge, equipment, and facilities.
The definition of e-waste for regulatory purposes varies by jurisdiction. California's Electronic Waste Recycling Act focuses specifically on "covered electronic devices"—a category that includes televisions, computer monitors, laptops, and portable computers that contain cathode ray tubes, flat panel displays, or similar video display components. The broader concept of e-waste extends to virtually all consumer electronics, IT equipment, and increasingly, appliances and other products that incorporate electronics.
As electronics have become more deeply embedded in daily life—and as the pace of product replacement has accelerated—e-waste has become the fastest-growing solid waste stream in the world. Understanding what e-waste is and why it requires special handling is the first step toward addressing it responsibly.
Electronics contain a range of hazardous materials whose improper disposal can cause serious environmental and public health harm. Lead is among the most prevalent and concerning. CRT monitors and televisions can contain four to eight pounds of lead in their glass panels, and lead solder has historically been used extensively in circuit board manufacturing. Lead exposure causes neurological damage, particularly in children, and chronic exposure is associated with cognitive impairment, behavioral problems, and a range of systemic health effects.
Mercury is found in fluorescent backlights used in LCD displays, certain types of switches, and flat-panel displays. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in the food chain. When it contaminates water systems, microbial action can convert it to methylmercury, which accumulates in fish and poses serious risks to people who consume them. Cadmium, used in rechargeable batteries and certain types of semiconductors, is a carcinogen that accumulates in the kidneys and causes long-term health damage. Arsenic, used in some semiconductors and as a hardening agent in lead alloys, is a known carcinogen associated with lung, skin, and other cancers.
Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are used extensively in circuit boards and plastic casings to reduce flammability. When electronics containing BFRs are burned—as commonly happens at informal e-waste processing sites—they generate toxic dioxins and furans that are persistent organic pollutants with serious health consequences. BFRs themselves can interfere with thyroid and reproductive hormone function.
Beryllium, used in some connectors and circuit boards, is a carcinogen when inhaled as dust or fumes. Barium, used in CRT face panels and other components, is acutely toxic if soluble compounds enter the body. Hexavalent chromium, used as a metal coating to prevent corrosion, is a carcinogen that can cause lung cancer and other health effects. The presence of these materials is the reason why electronics require specialized recycling rather than simply being thrown in the trash.
California has enacted some of the most comprehensive e-waste legislation in the United States. The Electronic Waste Recycling Act (originally SB 20, subsequently expanded by SB 50 and related legislation) established a producer responsibility and consumer fee system for "covered electronic devices." When you purchase a covered device—which includes most TVs, monitors, laptops, and portable computers with displays—you pay a small Electronic Waste Recycling Fee at the point of sale. This fee funds a state program that reimburses certified collectors and recyclers for processing these devices.
The practical effect of California's law is that consumers and businesses in California can drop off covered electronic devices at certified collectors like AK Recycling at no charge. The state fee you paid when you bought the device funds the recycling. For businesses with large volumes of covered devices, this can represent significant savings compared to states without such programs. It also creates a strong financial incentive for proper recycling rather than disposal.
California law also prohibits the disposal of covered electronic devices in solid waste—they cannot legally be placed in the trash or in dumpsters. Businesses that improperly dispose of electronic waste can face significant fines and penalties. The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) both have enforcement authority over e-waste regulations. For businesses with large quantities of equipment, proper documentation of responsible recycling is important protection against regulatory liability.
Beyond covered electronic devices, California's broader hazardous waste laws apply to many electronic components. Batteries, fluorescent lamps, and certain other electronic components are classified as hazardous waste in California and must be disposed of through appropriate channels. AK Recycling can advise you on how these regulations apply to your specific situation—call us at 323.581.5700 or visit our <Link href="/acceptable-materials">acceptable materials page</Link> for guidance.
The answer to this question goes to the heart of what responsible recycling actually means. The fact that you drop your old electronics at a "recycling" location does not automatically mean those devices will be handled responsibly. The electronics recycling industry includes a spectrum of actors, from highly certified, accountable operations like AK Recycling to informal collectors who send electronics overseas to places where they will be processed in ways that cause serious environmental and health harm.
The Basel Action Network and other organizations have documented—using GPS trackers placed in donated and recycled electronics—that a significant fraction of electronics collected for recycling in the United States end up at informal processing sites in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. At these sites, workers without protective equipment burn plastic coatings to expose copper wire, use acid baths to extract gold from circuit boards, and sort through toxic debris by hand. The communities surrounding these sites suffer contaminated soil, water, and air. The children who grow up there carry the consequences—elevated blood lead levels, impaired cognitive development, increased cancer risk—for life.
When you choose to recycle electronics, the location you choose matters enormously. Choosing a certified recycler like AK Recycling—one that holds e-Steward certification and can document the downstream fate of every material it processes—means your old devices are contributing to a responsible, closed-loop system rather than to overseas harm. The difference between a certified and an uncertified recycler is the difference between recycling and outsourcing a problem.
Beyond the ethical dimension, responsible recycling also has economic value. Electronics contain significant quantities of valuable materials—gold, silver, copper, palladium, and rare earth elements—that can be recovered and reused in new manufacturing if processed properly. Responsible recycling keeps these materials in the economy, reduces the need to mine virgin materials, and supports a circular economy that benefits everyone.
The global scale of the e-waste problem is staggering. The world generates more than 50 million metric tons of electronic waste each year—a number that grows by roughly 3 to 4 percent annually as electronic consumption continues to increase globally. By some estimates, e-waste now comprises more than 5 percent of all solid waste generated worldwide. The United States is one of the world's largest per-capita generators of e-waste, producing more than 20 pounds of e-waste per person per year.
The environmental impacts of improperly handled e-waste span multiple pathways. Landfilling electronics—still legal in most jurisdictions despite its problems—results in leaching of hazardous materials into groundwater as devices break down over time. Studies of landfill leachate near electronics-rich landfills have found elevated levels of lead, cadmium, and other contaminants. Incineration of mixed waste containing electronics generates toxic emissions including dioxins, furans, and heavy metal particulates. Neither of these is an acceptable solution for materials that could be recycled.
The informal processing of exported e-waste creates the most acute environmental impacts. Research conducted at informal e-waste sites in China, Ghana, Nigeria, India, and other countries has documented severe soil contamination, river and groundwater contamination, and air quality impacts from open burning. Studies of people living and working at these sites have found extremely elevated levels of toxic substances in blood, breast milk, and umbilical cord blood. These are not abstract environmental statistics—they are immediate human health crises.
Responsible recycling, by contrast, keeps hazardous materials out of the environment and keeps valuable materials in productive use. The recovery of gold, silver, copper, and other metals from electronics reduces the environmental footprint of mining—an industry associated with habitat destruction, water contamination, and significant greenhouse gas emissions. Every ton of electronics recycled responsibly represents both an avoided harm and a contribution to a more sustainable materials economy.