Nowadays, when you take electronic items (e-waste) to the dump, it’s likely you will have to pay a disposal fee. That’s on top of a recycling fee you may have paid at the time of purchase. A computer monitor can easily cost $25 to unload. Another option is to take your e-waste to a recycling center where they accept everything from computer cords, cell phones, stereos and speaker wires to remote controls, TVs and VCRs.
E-waste recyclers act as middlemen who make sure these items are dissembled properly and anything of value is put to use again. Some parts are valuable. For every 4,000 pounds of e-waste, for example, three ounces of gold are extracted from circuit connections and microchips. Recycling this type of waste keeps it from being dumped illegally here or overseas on highways, in rivers and landfills.