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                           has a zero landfill policy.  Every piece of eWaste we process has a home.  We have the relationships and partnerships with the right certified downstream vendors that will extend the sustainable life of an item. The fact that recent studies say up to 70 percent of the hazardous waste which is deposited in landfills is eWaste, there is room for improvement! 

If you take a step back and think about the fact that over 50 million tons of eWaste is generated every year, with 10% growth year after year, this is a serious issue that needs our attention now.  United States is the #1 producer of eWaste in the world.  Americans throw around 10 million tons of electronics with less than 50% is recycled.
 
Our goal is to make sure every piece of hardware that hits our facility is used in the production for new technology hardware.  We are reusing the hardware components needed for new devices while contributing to keep manufacturing production domestically.
 

ZERO LANDFILL POLICY

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DID YOU KNOW...

4,884,118 trees needed to remove the pollution of 19 million phone

Recycling 19 million phones is the same as removing:

  • 8,311 tons of manufacturing emissions

  • 37,639 households’ electricity for one year

  • 2,888 cars on the road

  • 670,206 pounds of copper

  • 1,425 pounds of gold

  • 14,668 pounds of silver

GLASS 

from broken monitors, devices and old TV sets are separated into lead and unleaded glass.  It can be recycled for batteries, medical equipment, new monitors and used in transportation infrastructure roadways.

E-PLASTIC

is plastic from eWaste composed of plastic stripped from computers, laptops, monitors, telephones, etc.  Typically there are 3 types of plastics associated with eWaste; ABS, polycarbonate and PVC, each added with different kinds of chemical additives.

HEAVY METALS

(non precious)

such as steel, aluminum, cobalt and zinc are all extracted to be reused in the manufacturing process.  It is estimated that 40 percent of the heavy metals in U.S. landfills come from discarded electronics. 

PRECIOUS METALS

with recycling circuit boards can be more valuable than mining for ore. One ton of circuit boards is estimated to contain 40 to 800 times more gold than one metric ton of ore. Gold, tantatum, silver, platinum, palladium, lead and tin (cassiterite) are all examples of metals that can be extracted from eWaste.  Cassiterite is widely used with our phones, and is considered a conflict mineral where over 90% of it is mined in Africa.

BATTERY COMPONENTS

can be reused in other batteries.  With the rise of Lithium battery, those metals from Lead batteries can be reused for medical equipment, roofing materials, and military ammunition.  Batteries that end up in a landfill, the lead will eventually finds its way into groundwater supplies that is linked to kidney and nerve damage.

COPPER

is an example where 80-90% of raw copper is from recycling because of it’s ability to retain the value.  Circuit boards have 30 to 40 times more copper in a ton versus that can be mined from one metric ton of ore.  Old outdated cable also can be recycled for it’s copper.

The carbon footprint of both metals and plastics recovered through recycling is much smaller than for the production of the same materials mined from ore. 

ARE WE URBAN MINERS? 

You could make an argument that we are miners.  We don’t own the refineries, we don’t own the machinery to mine metals in the ground, but we are miners sifting through tons of eWaste every week to extract and maximize the commodity value. 

If you want to learn more and how to become an Urban Miner, contact us!

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