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For example, the cord I use to charge my Kindle Fire can also charge my Samsung Galaxy phone. You can also sell your used electronics here.Įxcept for some Apple products, most of your home entertainment cords and cables can be used with other devices. In fact, they’ll accept most of your small electronics, in addition to wires and cables. BestBuy, Staples and other stores that electronics will help out with electronics recycling, too. Any metal recycling center will be happy to accept your copper-cored wires, and the more the better.
#RECYCLING APOWER CORD HOW TO#
How to Recycle Old Wires and Cables in Your AreaĬopper is selling for a little over $3 a pound. Recycling old wires and cables is one way to reclaim copper without all that environmental destruction. In the past few years, copper has become scarce, leading to higher prices, which in turns raises our cost of buying electronics, as well as more copper mines. Though other rare metals are used to manufacture wires and cable as well, copper is ultimately the most widely used electrical and electronic conductor on Earth. Deep, open copper pits in places like Butte, Montana are infamous for how ugly, polluting and destructive they are. Mining the copper needed to make cable pretty much destroys the environment around where the mines occur. They contain important and difficult to get metals like copper. Pollution aside, there’s another reason why it doesn’t make sense to trash e waste like wires and cables. Throwing e-waste away, even if it’s “only” electrical wires and cables, is illegal in the UK, much of Europe, and numerous jurisdictions in the United States. Electronics contain heavy metals and plastic made of various compounds that, as they break up over time, get released into the air, water and soil,potentially polluting the water we tap for drinking, washing and cleaning.Ĭommunities are responding as the problem gets worse. In fact, 85% of our e-waste is sent to landfills and incinerators, and that’s not good for the planet. Too Much Electronic TrashĮlectronic waste is the fastest growing sector of the waste stream. We’ve teamed up with Eland Cables to explain why it’s so important to recycle old wires and cables rather than just throw them away. How many electronics cables do you have just lying around? Probably a lot! Worldwide, it’s estimated that we will throw away 40 million tons of electronic waste this year alone, including the wires and cables we use to charge our phones, power our computers, and keep entertainment centers, well, entertaining.
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