How many devices do you own and use regularly? Now,  stop and think about the ones that you put in a box that sits untouched in an office, garage, basement, attic, storage closet…You probably have dozens of tech components like cables, monitors, mice, keyboards, tablets, and more that are filled with valuable metals that manufacturing plants need.

The consumer electronics market topped 1.3 billion in 2025. It’s expected to top 2.07 billion in the next seven years. People use electronic devices every day. The consumption is outpacing recycling, and that’s a problem.

Americans throw out about 8 million tons of e-waste each year. Some small electronics have built-in batteries that cannot be replaced. When the battery no longer charges, the device is useless. Each device contains rare earth elements and metals that still hold value, yet only 25 states have laws related to electronics recycling.

Before you can recycle, you must understand what happens to the device and its components. Some are biodegradable, while others are recyclable. Some can’t be recycled at all. 

Recyclable Tech: A Key Part of Urban Mining

In every electronic device, you have glass, plastic, and a variety of metals. Take a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). There are several categories of PCBs, but each type contains:

• Copper
• Gold
• Nickel
• Palladium
• Silver
• Tin

Consider this: your old iPhone that’s sitting in a drawer contains up to (estimated as it depends on the model):

• Under 0.001 gram of platinum
• 0.015 grams of palladium
• 0.034 grams of gold
• 0.34 grams of silver
• 15 grams of copper
• 25 grams of aluminum

Those materials are mined from the ground. The process strips the earth, potentially causing erosion. It takes homes from animals, and increases pollution of the air, ground, and even water.

If 1,000 people send their iPhones back to Apple for responsible recycling, that’s 25,000 grams of aluminum, 15,000 grams of copper, 340 grams of silver, 34 grams of gold, 15 grams of palladium, and 1 gram of platinum. All of those can be reused, which lowers the need to risk workers’ lives and strip more valuable minerals from the earth.

Electronics recyclers complete several steps in recovering tech components. It’s a multi-step process that starts with collection. Nothing gets recycled if it doesn’t get to a recycling facility. From there, recycling specialists:

• Repair or refurbish items that are still usable.
• Disassemble remaining electronics.
• Sort the parts into glass, metal, and plastic piles.
• Shred circuit boards and components with data storage.
• Place shredded materials on a conveyor that contains magnets that grab the metal fragments. 
• Move the remaining materials into water tanks where plastic floats and glass sinks.
• Remove the glass for processing to reuse in other materials.
• Melt plastic down for reuse in new plastic materials, when possible.
• Purification steps known as hydrometallurgy are used to recover precious metals.

Non-Recyclable: Complications Arise With Forever Components

In a perfect world, everything in an electronic device would be recyclable, but it’s not a perfect world. Electronics contain many materials that cannot be recycled. There are resins used on circuit boards and to encapsulate chips that cannot be melted down and reshaped. 

Lightweight composite materials, such as polymers reinforced with carbon fiber, help with the portability of items like laptops. The blend of fibers and resins ensures they have nowhere to go but the trash.

Because today’s phones, tablets, and other small electronics are very thin, there’s no room for screws. Instead, manufacturers use industrial-strength adhesives. It makes it impossible to remove some items for easy replacement. If a battery is glued into a device, you cannot quickly replace it when it dies. You must buy a new device.

If you have a motherboard with a CMOS battery or RAM that’s soldered to the board, the entire motherboard is useless. Sometimes that means replacing the entire computer, or replacing more than just the motherboard. It’s wasteful because replacing the worn component would reduce waste in the waste stream. Yet, many tech companies make it difficult so that consumers feel pressured to keep buying new ones.

Some older tech components contain hazardous substances that cannot be disposed of in the trash. Cadmium, lead, and mercury need special handling. If they aren’t handled correctly, they end up in the ground, where they leach into the groundwater and can be dangerous if someone drinks the tainted water.

Biodegradable: Breaking Down and Becoming Part of the Soil Again

Innovations in technology are constantly emerging, and the use of biodegradable materials is one of the best ways to reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste that ends up in landfills.

It’s still early days, but developers are testing materials like flax and hemp for laptop casings. Instead of packing tech with Styrofoam inserts and padding, mycelium (mushroom) packaging absorbs shock and is biodegradable.

Instead of fiberglass, cellulose-based PCBs are being used in prototypes for testing. These boards can dissolve in water or break down in soil, eliminating the need to toss fiberglass particles into the landfill once the metal fragments are removed.

ASUS has a mid-tower case made from ash, which is gorgeous to look at and durable because ash resists insects, humidity, and heat. When you build a PC using this biodegradable wood case and other biodegradable or recyclable materials, you reduce the amount of potential tech waste. Simple changes like that make a difference.

Solve the E-Waste Crisis by Embracing a Circular Economy

Support the circular economy by making considerate purchases. Some companies are embracing modular designs. Instead of replacing an entire device, replace the broken component. You have a tablet with a cracked screen. If your tablet is designed to be easily repaired, you can replace the screen yourself.

Buy tech from companies with takeback programs. Several states have enacted Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations that require producers to fund recycling programs for their devices or to take them back. If you’ve ever purchased a new phone and received trade-in value for it, that’s an example of a takeback program.

Don’t just shop for a device based on the looks, speed, or processing power. Make considerate, logical purchases that support the circular economy. Buy a device that’s going to last, that you can upgrade or repair, and that you’ll be happy to own for the next decade. Purchase tech components made from renewable or recycled materials.

Laws vary across the country, so it’s up to you to determine your community’s electronics recycling rules. Recycle Nation helps by offering a search tool that lists your local recycling facilities and retailers. Enter your ZIP code and the item to find locations, hours, and directions to the nearest recycling facility for tech components.