Today, recycling electronics or “e-waste” is an extremely important environmental activity. Recycling electronic devices not only help the environment but also provides consumers and businesses with many benefits. 

First, recycling e-waste can benefit anyone sending in their old phone, personal computer, appliances, TVs, or any device containing a circuit board. These recycled materials can be reused for manufacturing new products, and it also saves energy. 

At Resourceful Recycling, we’re here to help people and businesses in Chesaning, MI, and the surrounding areas with their e-waste recycling needs.

Here is a list of common items we recycle. Don't see your item on the list? No problem, just give us a call to see if we are able to recycle it.



• Telephones and answering machines
• Cameras
• Radios
• Game controllers
• Calculators
• Power tools
• Pinball machines
• Microwaves
• Video game consoles
• Televisions
• Fax machines
• PCs and laptops
• Computer monitors
• Tablets and cellphones 

If you are recycling electronic devices that store data, make sure you thoroughly wipe the device of all personal information with data destruction software. For those with very sensitive information, we offer a hard drive destruction service. 

What Happens to Recycled Electronics?

Recycling e-waste is good for the environment by keeping harmful toxins out of landfills and beneficial in that it allows components to be reused. By recycling e-waste, valuable materials that are used on the circuit boards and wiring can be recovered. These materials include:

• Gold
• Copper
• Silver
• Palladium 

Obviously, these materials hold substantial value and are cost-effective to remove from e-waste in their own right. Once these metals are removed, they are melted down, purified, and reused by manufacturers. This process of reusing metals from e-waste has a substantial impact on the environment. By reusing, it means that fewer metals have to be mined from the earth, then refined into a suitable form. Mining and refining metals take a substantial amount of energy to perform, which produces an untold amount of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. 

According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the US only recycles about 25% of its electronics. The remaining 75% ends up in landfills or gets incinerated, which means toxic pollutants including arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, and more leech into the earth and groundwater and into the atmosphere. Do your part to prevent further pollutants and toxins from entering the environment by recycling your electronic devices. 

When e-waste is processed, its internal metals and circuitry are removed from its plastic housings and enclosures. Then, the plastic pieces are shredded into tiny pieces, which can then be further processed and treated for reuse. 

Then mechanical and manual processes are used to separate different types of metals such as aluminum, gold, copper, etc. Lastly, the separated metals, plastic, and circuit boards are provided to production services and manufacturers as usable raw materials for new electronics and other devices.

Don’t Throw Your Electronics in Dumpsters

You’ve probably seen someone toss an old cellphone or other electronic devices in their trashcan or a dumpster. Many people do precisely this without thinking of the environmental consequences first. 

When you “throw away” electronics, they end up in a landfill. From there, they begin to decay, and through this decay, the tiny amounts of toxins they contain (mercury, lead, etc.) go into the ground and can enter the water supply. Additionally, these electronic devices contain materials (gold, aluminum, silver, etc.) that can be easily reused with minimal environmental impact. Mining these materials causes much higher carbon emissions compared to reusing the materials.

How to Recycle Your Electronics with Us

The best way to recycle your old electronics with us is to drop off your devices at our location in Chesaning, MI, at 14569 Lincoln Road. Alternatively, if you have a large number of electronics that need recycling, we can schedule a pickup. Contact us to learn more.