Ink cartridges

• More than 3 quarts of oil are used to produce each laser cartridge.
• The plastic used in each printer cartridge takes more than 10 centuries (that's 1000 years!) to decompose.
• 25 million printercartridges go to land fills each month.
• Toner cartridge remanufacturing saves over 38,000 tons of plastic and metal from landfills.
• Stacking 125 laser toner cartridges end-to-end equals the height of the Statue of Liberty.

Cell Phones

• In the US, cell phone use has surged from 340,000 subscribers in 1985 to over 235 million in 2007.
• The average American cell phone user owns 2 or more cell phones.
• According to a JD Power and Associates report the average replacement cycle for a typical handset is 17.6 months.
• It is estimated that more than 140 million cell phones are retired each year and over 500 million cell phones are currently stockpiled in US homes.
• It is estimated that up to 75 percent of obsolete cell phones are stockpiled in drawers by people who don’t know what else to do with them.

Toxicity

• The circuit boards in cell phones contain myriad toxins such as arsenic, antimony, beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, and zinc.
• Brominated flame retardants are found in the plastic housing, printed wiring board, and cables.
• The lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries contain heavy metals such as cobalt, zinc, and copper.
• Many of these chemicals are Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) and have the potential to be released into the air and groundwater when burned in incinerators or disposed of in landfills, thus creating unnecessary threats to human health and the environment.
• Preliminary testing by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control has shown that cell phones are likely to be determined hazardous at end-of-life and will require management under Universal Waste regulations.
• Universal Wastes must be recycled or managed as hazardous waste. Disposal at an unauthorized site or landfill is a serious crime as well as a serious environmental threat.
• Additional research by Dr. Timothy Townsend of the University of Florida for the US EPA has also found cell phones to leach hazardous levels of lead when disposed in landfill conditions.