Good Samaritan shares upsetting photo of items found in public trash bin: 'Shouts out to you for picking this out'

A Reddit user found a bunch of e-waste in the trash and had to vent to the r/DumpsterDiving subreddit.

"Someone dumped old electronics in a trash dumpster," the original poster said. "Should've been processed as e-waste. I dropped it all off at Staples for ewaste recycling." They noted in the photo captions that one of the items had two 12-volt, sealed lead acid batteries in it. 

E-waste is indeed a big problem. When left to landfill, it can leach various toxic chemicals into the local environment. Artisanal recycling of electronics has a massive human cost as a result.

Electronics require a lot of energy and resources to manufacture in the first place, which also goes to waste when functioning items are thrown out. More tragic still is that many of the minerals found in electronics present a large economic opportunity. 

There are many waste management companies that have popped up to take advantage of this opportunity. Decluttr is one option. The company will fix your broken phones, laptops, tablets, and computers where possible and sell refurbished items on eBay and Amazon. Best of all, Decluttr pays for electronics and even handles shipping costs.  

Reddit community members were frustrated at hearing about the dumpster find. 

"A large portion of ewaste is just exported to parts of Africa," one commenter said. "Locals there pick through and keep what they can sell, then dump the rest back in a landfill or into a river. My understanding is that very little of the process includes preventing harmful things from contaminating the environment."

"Hate it when people just trash e-waste like this, it can have really terrible downstream effects on the environment when it ends up in a landfill," another said.  "Shouts out to you for picking this out of the dumpster and disposing of it in a better way! Items like these can even be refurbished/parted out instead of recycled sometimes too!"

Which of these factors would most effectively motivate you to recycle old clothes and electronics? Giving me money back 💰 Letting me trade for new stuff 👕 Making it as easy as possible ⚡ Keeping my stuff out of landfills 🗑️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

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