One person's trash is another's treasure. Literally.
A Redditor shared how they've turned e-waste destined for the landfill into profit.
In a post titled "Adventures in e-waste," the user described how they bought 54 obsolete computers at auction for under $400. After parting out components, they estimated "a profit of around $700, plus whatever i can get for the aluminum from the heatsinks … at the scrap yard."
"My loving girlfriend just shakes her head at the absurdity of me buying a pile of computers," they wrote.
"This is the way." commented one Redditor.
"Congratulations, you have just started a computer recycling business," wrote another.
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Electronic waste, or e-waste, is the fastest-growing type of waste globally. Common items are computers, mobile phones, large household appliances, and medical equipment. According to the World Health Organization, 68 million tons of e-waste was generated in 2022. Of that, only 22.3% was formally recycled.
Tossing electronics is a costly waste of resources since they contain valuable metals like gold, copper, platinum, and rare earth materials critical for batteries.
A United Nations report found that e-waste worldwide contained 34 million tons of metals. That's $91 billion of valuable metals that went into the trash.
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Giving me money back 💰 Recycling those components would save us money. According to researchers, it costs 13 times more to mine these metals than it would to recover them from used devices.
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Instead, the United States imported $190 million of rare-earth compounds and metals in 2023, according to the United States Geological Survey. More than 70% came from China.
Plus, these discarded devices threaten our health and the environment. E-waste is considered hazardous because those same metals leach toxic chemicals into soil and water. One study found that exposure to e-waste contaminants during childhood can lead to obesity, asthma, or neurodevelopmental disorders.
Thankfully, programs like TerraCycle help people and companies properly recycle e-waste. New methods are also being developed to recover metals from circuit boards.
Meanwhile, dumpster divers are salvaging electronics before they enter the e-waste cycle, finding brand-new keyboards and even classic Nintendo systems.
Commenters shared their e-waste adventures. One wrote about salvaging computers and donating them.
"I make it known in my social circle that if anyone ever NEEDS a computer, and they don't mind it being old, slow and ugly I can help them out," said the original poster.
"I applaud your efforts to upcycle ewaste. And you make a profit," wrote a commenter.
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