As consumers across the United States become increasingly dependent on technology, the mountain of electronic waste in our landfills continues to pile up. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), e-waste is now the fastest-growing area of the municipal waste stream. The EPA estimates that 2.6 millions tons of electronics were discarded in 2005 alone. Of this huge amount of waste, only 12.6% was recycled—a shockingly low number, especially considering that most electronic goods contain toxic chemicals that can pose health and environmental hazards as they leak into the soil and groundwater in landfills (EPA Office of Solid Waste -- PDF).