Recently, I have been doing a school project based on informing people about the dangerous impacts of e-waste. During my research for this project, I learned that between 50-70% of the e-waste collected in the United States is dumped in developing countries because it is cheaper than it recycling it here. This high amount of e-waste is causing many health problems among the citizens of those countries. Electronic waste contains high levels of mercury and lead, which can contaminate water, soil, and the air if it is not disposed of properly. E-waste is such a big problem, but many people do not know about it. According to a recent study, 60% of Americans between the ages of 18-38 were unaware of what the term e-waste meant. This is very problematic because of how much harm e-waste can do. Despite filling up only 2% of the United State’s landfills, e-waste accounts for 70% of our toxic waste. 

Towards the end of our project, we were tasked with creating a “call to action”. The point of this is to give our listeners a summary of what we want them to do with the knowledge we just provided them with. I decided to start this petition because it is very saddening how the US government can take advantage of the people in developing countries just to save a bit of money. With enough signatures, I hope that we can help this country to develop a safer way to dispose of electronics without putting other people’s health at risk.