Image: EForGood
I hate to admit it but I’m guilty of having a couple of old, brick shaped mobile phones hidden away in the back of some drawer. And I bet I’m not the only one. But when it comes to electronics it isn’t always easy to know what is the best way to dispose of them.
That is where E For Good come in. Set up by Julia Hailes and Melinda Watson in 2011 their aim is to repair, reuse and recycle e-waste across the UK.
Image: EForGood
And what is e-waste? Firstly, it is short for electronic waste and it covers almost all types of old or broken electrical and electronic equipment destined for reuse, recycling or disposal. Think fridges, washing machines, toasters, hair dryers, phones, tvs, solar panels, even toys with an electronic component.
E For Good are on a mission to bring about change. They want to get to know everything about e-waste – how much of it there is, what it’s made of, what happens to it when we throw it away and how we’re wasting the planet’s scarce resources. They’re doing all this by raising awareness around e-waste, organising increased collections and facilities for e-waste, improving recycling systems and working with charity shops.
Electronic waste that gets sent to landfill is full of reusable bits that are often worth quite a bit of money. By chucking it out you are not just throwing valuable resources away, but money too. Not to mention that many electronic products have dangerous materials in them such as mercury. If these aren’t disposed of properly they can cause serious harm to man, beast and earth as they lie festering in a landfill.
