How Can E-Waste Benefit My Business?

“Can e-waste management save my business money?”

It’s a question we regularly receive from business owners, and the answer is yes—financial savings are just one of a number of ways in which your business can benefit from a smart approach to e-waste management.

By making e-waste management a primary focus of your company’s operations, you can improve your company’s reputation, improve relationships and position your business as an environmental leader.

Here’s a quick look at some of the reasons why a business should be focused on e-waste recycling:

  • Lower production costs: Widespread recycling of e-waste makes for cheaper products on the market. Manufacturing a new device from scratch is significantly more expensive because it requires the mining and processing of raw materials, as well as the consumption of much more energy. The more companies take on an e-waste management program, the cheaper products will become for everyone else.
  • Avoid fines: There is an increasing number of regulations being implemented to combat improper disposal of e-waste in incinerators and landfills. By ensuring your business prioritizes an e-waste management program, you can avoid expensive fines for noncompliance with these regulations.
  • Improve data security: Data security should be a top concern for businesses of all types. Proper recycling of e-waste ensures data will be completely wiped from devices. Simply putting files in the trash on the device isn’t enough—additional software and processes are required to fully eliminate the risk of data breaches.
  • Social responsibility: Businesses can market themselves as being socially-responsible organizations if they put e-waste recycling plans in place. Consumers are increasingly looking for companies that care about the environment and put sustainable initiatives into action. This can be a big selling point for your company in addition to simply being the right thing to do.
  • Reduce taxes: Landfill taxes are rising, in large part due to more waste going to landfills. Recycling old electronics responsibly decreases the landfill tax and helps you save some money for your business while contributing to lower production costs.
  • Avoid water contamination: Certain used and obsolete electronics can contain toxic waste, including lead, mercury and cadmium, all of which can get into the surrounding atmosphere and groundwater and result in contaminated water. This can poison the surrounding environment and make it inhabitable for plant and animal life, and it can also result in potential health risks for humans that come into contact with those substances.
  • Preserve precious metals: E-waste recycling helps to save significant amounts of precious metals, including copper, silver, palladium and gold. These metals cost a lot of money and energy to extract and refine, so anything that can be done to preserve them is extremely helpful for the environment.

Want to know more about how e-waste can benefit your business? Get in touch with the team at CIWA, In. with any questions you have about e-waste recycling and how to get a program set up for your company. We look forward to working with you.