E-Recycling Going for the Gold

February 25 2010

It’s been fun to watch Team U.S.A. sweep the Vancouver Olympics with 28 medals so far and 7 of them gold. Did you know that the gold medals Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White, and Bode Miller are wearing around their necks are partially made out of recycled e-waste? While the medals may contain just under 2% e-waste material, it’s a good step towards being more environmentally friendly.

With people upgrading to a new computer or cell phone every few years, e-waste can add up quickly. This waste can be quite hazardous unless recycled properly. As Konrad Osterwalder, under-secretary general of the U.N. wrote in a recent report “One person’s waste can be another’s raw material,” adding that new technologies “can transform waste into assets, creating new businesses with decent green jobs.” Quite plainly, e-waste recycling is good for the environment and good for jobs.

So maybe you can’t skate as fast as Shani Davis, but you can still e-recycle like an Olympian.