"E-Trash" A Growing Concern

"We do not want lead and other heavy metals going into landfills or going into our environment," said Creative Recycling's president, Jon Yob.

And in our got-to-have-the-latest tech world, the problem is only growing.

"The rate of functional obsolescence is ever increasing, and it's driving more and more equipment into the waste stream," said Yob.

That's why University of Florida scientists have built giant lysimeters, or simulated landfills, to find out if lead from electronics is leaking into the earth.

"So we filled this one up with solid waste -- garbage -- and 6 percent electronic waste, and we packed it all in, just like you pack down garbage in a landfill with a compactor. And then we trickle in water at the very top like it's rain water," said John Schert, executive director of the Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management at the University of Florida.

Our laboratory studies that we did showed the lead leakage from these was quite significant.
John Schert, executive director, Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, University of Florida
Then they collected the liquid samples.

"Our laboratory studies that we did showed the lead leakage from these was quite significant," said Schert.

The leakage was not as severe in field tests. Still, the EPA used this data to rule cathode ray tubes in TVs and colored computer monitors are considered hazardous waste.

"In the next 1,000 years, what's going to happen to this lead?" said Schert. "We don't know."

Experts believe these steps will prevent today's trash from becoming tomorrow's problem.

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