hazardous and toxic materials

My question is what is hazardous and/or toxic in ewaste? I understand if you are grinding or sanding something you don't want to breath the dust, youdont want that stuff in your lungs. But any of the metals in ewaste is naturaly in the ground but if we take it out of the ground all of a sudden it becomes hazardous. If it's naturaly in the ground whats wrong with butting it back in the ground? They can add all kinds of chemicals to our food which I thing is more harmfull than handleing a little bit of lead. Radiatio can cause cancer but every year women go have thiere breast bombarted with radiation and then wonder why they get breast cancer. I think all this hazardous/toxic waste from electronics is a big lie and everyone is falling for it hook line and sinker. Just had to get this off my chest.

If your scrappin E-Waste it might be do to an over exposure of toxins and such. I always think of those old commercials for " INTELL INSIDE " Dell ads. Whear the people putting the cpu together were wearing white suits with masks on.

When the stuff is in the ground, it is generally in minute quantities and is chemically bonded with other materials making it inert. For example, you don't find pure aluminum in the ground - you find bauxite. Gold is chemically extracted with various acids. Lead is found primarily in galena, mixed with zinc, silver, and copper. And so on.

Putting refined pure metals back in the ground is not natural, and it would take thousands, if not tens of thousands of years for it to approach the "safe" levels found in nature. If you put it back in the ground the same way you took it from the ground (as bauxite, galena, etc.) it would be just as safe as if you had never taken it out in the first place. That's not what's happening though.

Happy...start busting up CRT glass without a mask on and then come back and tell us that there is no hazard involved. I do agree that the EPA probably hinders people from recycling e-waste more than they help it, but they are involved for a reason.

Originally Posted by greytruck

If your scrappin E-Waste it might be do to an over exposure of toxins and such. I always think of those old commercials for " INTELL INSIDE " Dell ads. Whear the people putting the cpu together were wearing white suits with masks on.

Most electronic assembly is done with white suits and masks but not for the person putting them together. Those clean environments are in order to keep the electronics from getting contaminated by skin or dirt while they are being assembled.