Unfortunately, in most of the world, the bulk of all this waste ends up in landfills,4 where it poisons the environment-e-waste contains a variety of toxic substances such as lead mercury, and arsenic that leak into the ground Recycling is in many ways the ideal sok to the problem. E-waste contains significant amounts of valuable metals such as silver, gold and copper that make it attractive to recycle In theory, recycling gold from old computers is far more efficient and less environmentally destructive-than digging it from the earth The problem is that a large percentage of e-waste that is dropped off for recycling in wealthy countries is sold and diverted to the developing world-to countries like Ghana As quantities of e-waste increase worldwide, it poses an increasing threat to the health of 50 people living in the developing world