The e-Waste problem is major, and growing everyday. Writers, corporations, policy makers, governments,scientists and everyday people continue to put forward solutions for stemming the tide of electronics being disposed of improperly.

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Elizabeth Daigneau for Governing Magazine offers 5 Ways to Get People to Recycle More Electronics. Her points are salient, particularly in relation to public education. While we in the ITAD industry are aware of the problem, many people are still uninformed about the e-Waste pandemic and what they can do about it.

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But these tips leave out a crucial aspect of the issue. The factis that even after they are no longer desirable by their original purchaser, many electronics still have value. By failing to include re-use and re-purposing in ITAD strategies, not only is the environment negatively impacted, but owners lose out on recouping some of the value of their devices.

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Daigneau is not alone; all too often the discourse around ITADfocuses myopically on recycling, without even considering that there are other, better options. Education about the e-Waste problem needs to include the full spectrum of tools to combat it, not just recycling.

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The Sage approach is different; we use Reuseable Yield to drive solutions that are more sustainable and more profitable than our competitors. Part of our mission is to make this strategy more widely understood, accepted and applied. We need to change the conversation.