Electronics disposed of in landfills can do harm
Associate Professor John Katers at UW-Green Bay knows a lot about the heavy metals inside TV's and computers.
His specializes in recycling and pollution prevention, so he's also pretty familiar with how electronic equipment can hurt the environment if it's dumped at a landfill.
"The flat screen TV's, the computer, the flat screen computer monitors, those sorts of things, they're all sources of mercury so it seems foolish to not recycle them when we know that there is known health effects," he added.
Professor Katers says a lot of the times landfill liquids, which could contain heavy metals, are transported to a waste water treatment facility.
Sometimes those toxic metals can end up either on land or in the air.
Katers says scientific studies show metals like mercury can cause central nervous disorders.
Lead, he says, has been linked to learning disabilities.
"We understand the negative impacts of lead on children and that sort of thing but the fact we got three to five pounds of lead sitting in this television and we're just gonna throw it out at the curb and just have it end up at a landfill."
