Recycling Your Copiers, Printers, and Fax Machines the Right Way
E-waste is a growing problem all around the world. As businesses everywhere continue their shift toward digital record-keeping, all of the old machines that helped the world run for decades are becoming obsolete. This includes copiers, printers, and even fax machines.
What should you do when all these aging machines that you used to rely on wear out? Well, there are a few options:
- They can sit in storage indefinitely, but this takes up valuable space that could be put to better use.
- They can be sent to a landfill, which can result in toxic waste leaching.
- They can be properly recycled!
Why You Should Never Send E-Waste to a Landfill
When you send items to a landfill, you are adding to the e-waste problem and putting the environment in danger. Many of these old machines contain harmful metals and/or chemicals that can poison drinking water and the air. All most all landfills leak at some point in their lifespan.
This means that the plants, animals, and people near the landfill are at greater risk of developing any number of diseases, including cancer.
The other problem is that, when you throw an old machine away, you’re ensuring new materials will need to be mined and new items will need to be manufactured and shipped (because somewhere down the line, someone who might have bought your old machine will instead buy a new one).
The third (and better) option is to recycle your old machines.
Recycling Old Copiers and Faxes is the Way to Go
By recycling your old machines, you can help protect the environment. You’re both keeping your old items out of landfills and keeping your old machines in circulation (which means that someone, somewhere is buying your machine instead of buying a new one).
Electronic waste rarely makes the news, but every year millions of tons of electronics that could be recycled are going directly to landfills where they will stay for hundreds of years, poisoning the water and air.
And if they don’t end up in landfills, there’s a good chance they will end up in a third-world country where workers making pennies will strip them of their valuable components before sending them to burn pits.
A Few Facts About E-Waste
The e-waste problem is only getting worse. Here are just a few facts about this growing problem:
- E-waste accounts for approximately 70% of toxic waste, despite being 2% of landfill waste
- Around $60 million in precious metals like gold and silver are discarded each year through e-waste
- According to the EPA, e-waste is the world’s fastest-growing trash source in America
- It takes 530 pounds of fossil fuels, 48 pounds of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water to create one computer and monitor
- Recycling 1 million laptops saves enough energy to power over 3,000 homes for an entire year
- It’s estimated that 5 billion phones will be thrown away during 2022
Recycling your business’s e-waste can help make a dent in this growing problem, and Protec is here to help.
Recycle All Your E-Waste with Protec
At Protec, we specialize in recycling old business electronics, and we accept consumer electronics too. We recycle printers, fax machines, copiers, healthcare equipment, old computers, video game consoles, and much, much more.
Basically, if it has a circuit board, then it’s recyclable, and we can take it off your hands. We are an NAID AAA-certified recycler, which means we are held to the highest standards of recycling in the United States.
When we recycle your electronics, we ensure that all personally identifiable information (PII) and other proprietary information is completely destroyed on your machines. We provide you with a certificate of destruction proving you did everything possible to destroy sensitive data.
To learn more about electronics recycling for businesses, read our latest article: Is Electronics Recycling Worth It?
Schedule One-Time or Ongoing Electronics Recycling Services
For businesses and non-profits, our teams come onsite. From one-time recycling to regularly scheduled service, Protec Recycling helps you regularly (and properly) recycle your old electronics. To schedule a pickup, call our office at 205-549-2120 or visit our Contact Us page today.
