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The Serial Entrepreneur Who Is Tackling E-Waste With EcoATMsAutomated kiosks that buy back used electronics aim to ease the electronic waste burden and put cash in consumers' pockets.
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The U.S. disposes of more than 384 million units of electronic waste each year, and less than 20 percent of that is recycled, according to the Electronics TakeBack Coalition. The remaining 80 percent is burned or dumped in landfills, leaking toxic substances like mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic and beryllium into the environment.
For companies that clean up the mess, this is big business: ABI Research expects the worldwide market for e-waste recovery to reach nearly $15 billion by the end of 2014, up from less than $6 billion in 2009.
