Electronic Waste 2
Abstract
This paper will discuss how the United States dispose of electronic waste, how electronic waste is made on a daily basis, and the reasons we have so much electronic waste. This paper will also discuss the problems with e-waste in the world and how our country will benefit from recycling of e-waste and how recycling will help in creating new greener jobs in the future.

Electronic Waste 3 Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a term that we use for electronic products that have become obsolete, unwanted products that have essentially reached the end of its life (Denga, 2008). Technology has become so advance at such a rate that many devices become trash even after a short time. This is due to the fact that many companies are constantly coming up with new electronic ideals faster than they can create one product they usually have another one on the market. Many electronic devices that we use on an everyday basis become trash after a few years of use by the customer. The term “old electronic” in fact is one of the reasons that contribute to e-waste such as DVD players being replaced by Blu-ray players and VCRs being replaced by the DVD players (Denga, 2008). E-waste is created from devices that may be electronic such as TV’s, PDA’s, CD players fax machines and computers (Antonitis, 2011). Many of these items are being thrown away on a daily basis. The obsolete computers and many other electronic devices are filling landfills across United States. Some of the electronic that is thrown away have harmful material such as cadmium, beryllium, mercury and lead. In the United States alone, more than 100 million are thrown away with only 20% of the electronics being recycled properly. The EPA has estimated that 60 million metric tons enter the land field yearly (Antonitis, 2011). According to the electronics