Dead electronic goods like computers, televisions and cells phones, are known as electronic waste, or e-waste.
As consumer electronics take over our homes, more and more of this equipment ends up in landfills or recycling plants once they've reached the end of their lifespans.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, nearly 5 billion pounds of e-waste ended up in waste stream in 2009, and e-waste is one of the fastest growing contributors to waste.
Many electronics can be recycled and made into new parts. Reuters has gathered pictures of recycling plants around the world, including China and India, where household electronics go to die and are reborn as new products and materials.
An employee is reflected in a mirror as she disassembles a circuit board at the Coopermiti warehouse of electronic waste in Sao Paulo.
An employee places a discarded monitor before disassembling it at the Coopermiti warehouse.
Discarded mobile phones are seen as an employee disassembles them.
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