Recycling e-waste may be a good solution to disposing our old electronics, but it's a bad solution for those living near the recycling facilities.

A recent study compared the dioxin levels in women of child-bearing age at two sites in China, the destination for 70 percent of electronic waste: an e-waste recycling site and an area without e-waste recycling. They analyzed the dioxins, or compounds linked to cancer, developmental defects and other health problems, in samples of breast milk, placenta and hair.

The results showed that the daily intake of infants from six months of breastfeeding at the recycling site more than doubled that of the reference site. The scientists believe that the levels of dioxins at the recycling site were at least 25 times the tolerable daily limit deemed by the World Health Organization.

The study described the recycling methods, such as heating scrap electronic components over coal fires in the open air. This may not mean that recycling electronics is universally hazardous – we may just need to change the methods of recycling electronics. Of course, if products were designed for reuse or easy and environmentally-friendly disposal in the first place, this wouldn't be a problem.