[Editors note: This post was originally published in April 2011 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.]

We are all familiar with recycling. We are surrounded by disposal bins marked for plastics, paper and bottles and even our house trash is separated and recycled.

What many of us may not be so familiar with is the ability to recycle electronic items that no longer work or are no longer useful. And many electronic components and accessories are often considered only fit for the trash when they die, break or become obsolete.

But not only is that not true, simply throwing many of these things away can be illegal.

Recently, the Chicago Tribune published an interesting article regarding the status of electronic waste, or e-waste in this country:

"On average, each U.S. household has about 24 electronic gadgets, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. About 2 million tons of unwanted electronic items accumulate every year nationwide, but less than 20 percent is recycled, according to the EPA. The rest end up in landfills, where toxic materials such as lead, mercury and beryllium can leak, posing human health and environmental problems."

One of the reasons why e-waste is such a prevalent problem lately is because of the tremendous pace of technological advancement. A five-year old computer is now considered outdated - although it might be able to do the basics like word processing it will probably have trouble trying to perform any advanced functions like playing movies, games or viewing high-bandwidth websites.

The same trend goes for printers, copy machines, shredders and televisions. In fact, televisions are one of the largest sourced of e-waste as people toss out their old boxy sets for flat screen and HDTVs that are rapidly dropping in price.

This rate of technological progression, coupled with the round-the-clock marketing campaigns by manufacturers to 'upgrade' your electronics, has made e-waste the fastest growing portion of garbage in the United States.

This trend certainly isn't going to slow down anytime soon either. All signs point to a continued rate of advancing rate technology (as well as marketing), which translates to more and more e-waste over the next decade or so. Although US local and federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency are pushing legislation to curb irresponsible disposal of e-waste, this simply won't be enough.

People around the country need to take a stand and realize that e-waste ending up in landfills can dramatically affect the environment and eco-system around us. The decisions that citizens make today will truly make a difference in the quality of life of the next several generations.

So what can you do?

Walk around your house and label all your old electronics with a post-it note. These are the items that are sitting around, not getting used or simply don't work anymore and need to be gotten rid of.

Remember: you can't really throw them in the trash can or dump them. So plan on putting them in a good staging area for proper removal.

Then, on a free weekend, gather all of these items and find a nearby recycling center that you can bring them to. Unless you don't have the time, the right vehicle, or simply just don't want to deal with it. In that case, call on a professional e-waste disposal team like Junk King.

Your E-Waste Disposal and Recycling Experts

Junk King provides an efficient, safe and eco-friendly TV disposal service to make the whole process easy for you. Our experienced television removal team will haul off that old TV set without damaging your home on the way out. We’ll do all the heavy lifting - no need to carry items out to the curb. Finally, we’ll make sure that the TV is disposed of at a proper recycling facility so that it doesn’t do any harm to our ecosystem.

Ready to get rid of your old electronics? It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3.

You make an appointment by booking online above or by calling 1.888.888.JUNK (5865). Our professional and insured TV disposal team will show up at your home or office and we will call you 15 minutes before we arrive on site. We will always give you a free estimate based on how much room your items take up in our truck. You simply point and we'll haul your old TV set into our junk removal trucks, with no hidden fees.