Millions of people in America and the United Kingdom woke up on Christmas day to find that Santa Claus had left them a brand new electronic device of some sort under the Christmas tree. While these devices will undoubtedly bring hours of pleasure to the recipient, what gets left behind can be an unwelcomed gift for the environment. Studies have shown that while most people are actively recycling things like paper, plastic, and metal, they are unwilling, unable, or unaware that recycling electronic devices is equally important to the environment. As people are getting the latest electronic devices they are being reminded that the old ones can be recycled and reused, and that they should not end up in landfills. Many of these devices, in addition to having value as recyclables, have batteries which can leak harmful chemicals into the soil and eventually into drinking water.
This is why the Clean Coast Partnership in Gulf Shores, Alabama has launched an electronics recycling day as a way to motivate its citizens to reuse or recycle their old electronics. The event will take place on January 9th at the Gulf State Park Pavilion and people will be able to drop off old electronic devices that they have. Almost anything can be dropped off, including batteries, old computers, printers, and keyboards with no charge. Some things like old computer monitors will cost between five and seven dollars to drop off.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that less than twenty percent of electronic devices are recycled and much of the rest ends up in landfills.
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