Celebrate Earth Day Every Day

Spring cleaning season is in full bloom! While this can be our favorite time of year at The Junkluggers, it also is a great time to emphasize the importance of disposing items responsibly.

Every day, The Junkluggers takes steps to better our ecological footprint by donating and recycling items and participating in green community events. This year we have turned Earth Day, on April 22nd, into an entire month of environmentally friendly initiatives.

In addition to partnering with donation centers and local charity partners across the country, many of our locations are also participating in e-waste events to help our customers spring clean the green way!

Below, we have listed some materials commonly used to make up electronic waste such as computers, televisions, headphones, cell phones, and printers. Many of these items are recyclable and can even be fixed up and given a new life. Before tossing out your old phone, think about how many years it could spend in an e-waste graveyard.

How long will my items take to biodegrade?

1. Glass

   Time to Decompose: Not biodegradable

   Glass is often used to make display panels for TVs, mobile devices, and computers. Glass can be recycled over and over with no loss of quality however, in a landfill glass will just break apart into smaller pieces rather than decompose. (Source)

2. Metal

   Time to decompose: Not biodegradable (Source)

   Depending on the type of metal, it can take about 100 years to break down and flake away into the atmosphere or may never rust and degrade. Similar to glass, metal will fall apart, but will not decompose. A smartphone is made up of many precious metals. “For every one million cell phones recycled, we can recover 75 pounds of gold, 772 pounds of silver, 33 pounds of palladium, and 35,274 pounds of copper” (Source)

3. Plastic

   Time to decompose: Not biodegradable

   Plastics do not decompose in landfills however, they can be broken down by the sun’s ultraviolet light. There is not enough research on modern plastics to know exactly how long it would take for them to completely degrade, but it is long enough to be problematic for our ecosystem. (Source)

E-waste recycling the right way

Although electronic waste is made from materials that can’t biodegrade, these materials can be recycled and reused! E-waste recycling is a bit different than typical recycling which is why The Junkluggers will bring your e-waste to facilities where it is properly disposed of and recycled according to strict EPA regulations. Once your electronics arrive at the e-recycling facility, they are sorted by type and then stripped of any rare metals, glass, and plastics. These components are then safely collected and formed into new parts. When you toss e-waste into a landfill, you are adding toxic waste to landfills that can pollute the Earth.

Don’t contribute to your local landfills. Instead, call The Junkluggers for more information about responsible electronics recycling.

If you are unsure of how to dispose of your e-waste properly, visit our page. If a local Junkluggers is holding an e-waste event in your area, you can bring your old electronics to the event and we will ensure they are kept out of landfills!

Or as always, you can book an appointment for our turnkey junk removal service and you won’t need to lift a finger! We work hard to keep more than e-waste out of landfills and can remove old furniture, appliances, swing sets, pianos and more from your home. We’ll also come to your business to remove cubicles, filing cabinets, office furniture and much more. Our team will find a new home for as many of your items as possible with our sustainable approach to junk removal. Big or small, we’ll lug it all!