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Earth Science
Piles of Thrown-Out TVs, Laptops, and Phones Pose an Environmental Risk
Reading Questions Worksheet
Objective
I will answer the following questions by reading the article Piles of Thrown-Out TVs, Laptops, and Phones
Pose an Environmental Risk .
1. Where do many Christmas gifts from years past end up?
2. List the types of “gifts” that end up at the A bsolute Green Electronics Recycling .
E-Waste A Global Problem
3. What is electronic waste, also known as e-waste?
Hint: You will have to infer from the paragraphs before to write an answer for this question.
4. How many pounds of electronic junk are collected worldwide according to the Solving the E-Waste Problem
Initiative ?
5. How many pounds of electronic junk do the Solving the E-Waste Problem Initiative estimate will be five years from now?
6. What materials in electronic junk are dangerous to the environment?
7. How do these materials get released into the environment?
8. Where do most big companies send their electronic waste?
9. What are the big piles of electronic waste exposing people to?
10. Who is Jim Puckett?

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11. What was drafted in Basel, Switzerland in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s?
12. What is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerned with?
13. What was proposed in July to Congress and state governments?
14. What did President Obama create in 2010?
15. How did California become a national pioneer in recycling electronic waste?
16. Why are old TV’s particularly bad for the environment?
17. What does the EZPC Recycle in Santa Ana, CA do with the electronic waste they collect?
18. What do huge shredders do with circuit boards?
19. What do smelters do?
20. The U.S. does not have any smelters. Where are the smelters located?
21. What do environmentalists fear is happening?
22. How many gadgets are thrown away a year according to Annie Leonard, the president of Story of Stuff
Project in Berkeley, CA?