Why is it important to recycle electronics?

Answer 1

it is important to recycle electronics because those items will just end up in landfills and take many hundred years to decompose wen it could be turned into something else. If part of the electronic is plastic it will never decompose.

Answer 2

Computer parts are harmful to the environment. They have many chemicals in them that are hazardous to the environment and humans. Some of the chemicals in the computer parts are toxic and being around them too long can damage your kidneys and lungs.

Within the computer parts there are many different harmful chemicals, but here's a basic rundown of toxic materials inside of your computer.

• Beryllium
• Cadmium
• Chromium
• Lead
• Mercury

That is a basic list of harmful computer parts within the computer. Now here's a list of what parts contain these dangerous materials.

• Cables - Cadmium
• Motherboards - Beryllium
• Chip resistors - Cadmium
• Metal plates - Chromium
• Circuit boards - Mercury and Lead
• Switches and relays - Mercury

As you can see, computer parts contain these chemicals which are very harmful to humans and the environment. Now, I'll explain the dangers of the chemicals to human beings.

carcinogen (n) - a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue

• Beryllium - a carcinogen, beryllium dust can cause lung disease
• Cadmium - Long term exposure to this carcinogen damages kidneys and bones
• Chromium - Inhaling a form of chromium can damage liver, kidneys, and increases the chance of getting lung cancer
• Lead - harms the kidney and reproductive system, even small amounts can impair the mental development of a child.
• Mercury - Linked to brain and kidney damage. It can harm a developing fetus and passes through breast milk.

As you can see, these are very harmful to humans if they are exposed to them. Now I'll explain how these chemicals can damage the environment.

• Beryllium - In water, chemicals will react with beryllium, causing it to become insoluble. This is a good thing, because the water-insoluble form of beryllium can cause much less harm to organisms than the water-soluble form.
  Beryllium will not be accumulated in the bodies of fish. However, some fruits and vegetables such as kidney beans and Pears may contain significant levels of beryllium. These levels can enter animals that eat them, but luckily most animals excrete beryllium quickly through urine and feces.
• Cadmium - Cadmium waste streams from the industries mainly end up in soils. The causes of these waste streams are for instance zinc production, phosphate ore implication and bio industrial manure. Cadmium waste streams may also enter the air through (household) waste combustion and burning of fossil fuels. Because of regulations only little cadmium now enters the water through disposal of wastewater from households or industries.

• Chromium - Most of the chromium in air will eventually settle and end up in waters or soils. Chromium in soils strongly attaches to soil particles and as a result it will not move towards groundwater. In water chromium will absorb on sediment and become immobile. Only a small part of the chromium that ends up in water will eventually dissolve.
• Lead - Not only leaded gasoline causes lead concentrations in the environment to rise. Other human activities, such as fuel combustion, industrial processes and solid waste combustion, also contribute.
  
  Lead can end up in water and soils through corrosion of leaded pipelines in a water transporting system and through corrosion of leaded paints. It cannot be broken down; it can only converted to other forms.
  
  Lead accumulates in the bodies of water organisms and soil organisms. These will experience health effects from lead poisoning. Health effects on shellfish can take place even when only very small concentrations of lead are present. Body functions of phytoplankton can be disturbed when lead interferes. Phytoplankton is an important source of oxygen production in seas and many larger sea-animals eat it. That is why we now begin to wonder whether lead pollution can influence global balances.
  
  Soil functions are disturbed by lead intervention, especially near highways and farmlands, where extreme concentrations may be present. Soil organisms than suffer from lead poisoning, too.
  
  Lead is a particularly dangerous chemical, as it can accumulate in individual organisms, but also in entire food chains.
• Mercury - Mercury in the air may settle into water bodies and affect water quality. This airborne mercury can fall to the ground in raindrops, in dust, or simply due to gravity (known as "air deposition"). After the mercury falls, it can end up in streams, lakes, or estuaries, where it can be transferred to methylmercury through microbial activity. Methylmercury accumulates in fish at levels that may harm the fish and the other animals that eat them. Mercury deposition in a given area depends on mercury emitted from local, regional, national, and international sources. The amount of methylmercury in fish in different waterbodies is a function of a number of factors, including the amount of mercury deposited from the atmosphere, local non-air releases of mercury, naturally occurring mercury in soils, the physical, biological, and chemical properties of different waterbodies and the age, size and types of food the fish eats. This explains why fish from lakes with similar local sources of methylmercury can have significantly different methylmercury concentrations.

Now you understand why you should recycle computers. They are highly toxic and can kill you. I hoped this help answer your question.

Answer 3

Recycling is important because if you recycle you can give another life to your rubbish. Many trees can be saved and we will have a better environment.

Answer 4

Recycling has an advantage over regular waste disposal because it is good for the environment. It can also help save money by reusing items that would normally be thrown away.