By Carol Jegou
Who really knows what e-waste is or how to dispose of it safely? We all have it in our homes and offices but often struggle to securely discard it. At All Green Recycling, we take any type of e-waste — computers, tablets, cell phones, printers, cable boxes, DVRs, landline phones — and recycle them with a zero-landfill policy.
All Green Recycling Inc is a Nationally Certified Woman-owned Business and is the first and only certified B-Corp in the city of Charlotte.
As a company, we make sure that if an item is recycled but cannot be reused, then it is broken down to its commodities and sent to a vetted downstream vendor to ensure they are put to good use for another purpose.
Anything that is recycled and contains data is always carefully handled and shredded. For example, it’s our policy to shred all hard drives so data cannot be breached.
Besides e-waste recycling, All Green has developed an environmental technology to extract precious metals from circuit boards in a very safe way. We work with many local and nationwide businesses dedicated to making our communities clean and safe by reducing pollution in the air and water streams.
Electronic devices are a complex mixture of several hundred materials. For example, a mobile phone contains 500 to 1,000 components. Many of these contain toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium, as well as hazardous chemicals, such as brominated flame retardants. Polluting PVC plastic is also frequently used. These dangerous substances cause serious pollution and put workers at risk when the products are manufactured or thrown out. Of particular concern is the exposure of children and pregnant women to lead and mercury. These metals are highly toxic and can harm children and developing fetuses even at low levels of exposure. This is part of our B-Corp distinction.
Next time you are ready to clean out that back hall closet, attic, garage or basement where those devices are piling up, keep All Green recycling in mind. Please call (704-375-9676) to let us know you are on your way.
