Should Recycling Be Mandatory ?

According to Electronic Recyclers International (ERI), nearly 30 million to 40 million metric tons of Electronic waste, also known as E-waste, are generated every year in one form or the other. Experts attribute this mainly to the shrinking lifespan of the electronic devices that are used commercially these days in the form of smart phones, tablets and notebooks.

Along with the increase in E-waste, clamor for more organized E-waste recycling has been growing loud and thick in recent times. Several global environmental agencies and green organizations have been spearheading green campaigns that aim at making E-waste recycling mandatory for electronic gadget manufacturers. But some manufacturers still ask the question, should recycling be mandatory for all electronic gadget manufacturers? There are some companies that have already started including E-waste recycling in to their electronic gadget manufacturing process life cycle.

Electronics Waste Recycling in a Safe and Secure Manner

As electronic recycling involves re-using different electronic components that went in to the making of electronic gadget, electronic recyclers have the additional responsibility of preserving personal data that is stored in such electronic components. Strict control mechanisms are already in place to guide recyclers when it comes to preserving customer data.

Data Destruction Standards

Personal data destruction is carried out in accordance with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) media destruction guidelines. The recycling service provider determines whether the device has to be refurbished or shredded. If the recycling service provider determines that the device can be taken up for refurbishment, then appropriate software is used to delete the personal records stored in the device in accordance with the NIST standards that talks about the guidelines for media sanitization.

If the recycling service provider decides to shred the electronic item, before shredding, toxic items that are part of the electronic item such as bulbs, mercury and battery are first removed. There are shredding machines that have the capacity to shred 30,000 pounds of e-waste per hour.