RoboCyclers

The Problem of E-Waste: A Ticking Global Time Bomb

Our founder, Milan Darji, has been a lifelong advocate and volunteer in electronics recycling. In his time in robotics, he has seen the volume of e-waste and scrap metal generated by teams, so he created RoboCyclers to be part of the solution!

The problem of electronic waste is a serious problem. Electronics contain valuable copper, gold, and electronic components, but they also contain toxins like lead and mercury that poison our environment. Globally, the world will produce around 72 million pounds of e-waste, which is growing by 2.6 million pounds per year, only 22.6% of this e-waste is recycled. The U.S. alone produces 44 pounds of e-waste per American.

E-waste being dumped in a vulnerable overseas community.
E-waste is dumped in poverty-stricken countries overseas, poisoning the air and water of these vulnerable communities

Not only does e-waste pose an environmental problem, but it also creates an issue of environmental injustice when our toxic e-waste is shipped to the Third World, often through bribes or back channels, and is dumped where poor people live instead of getting recycled. It pollutes their water and their soil.

X-ray of a shipping container smuggling toxic e-waste.
X-ray showing a cargo container of old computer monitors and other toxic e-waste being smuggled into Ghana

Meanwhile back home in the in the U.S., consumers toxic e-waste goes into landfills, creating a ticking time bomb. In one incident, discarded batteries set a landfill in Dundas, Minnesota on fire, setting alight other e-waste and releasing a toxic stew of hazardous substances into the air and water.

Fire at a landfill containing e-waste.
A landfill in Minnesota containing e-waste burned uncontrollably for seven days in 2023, spewing toxic gases and releasing contaminated water into the environment.