E-waste is an informal yet popular name for electronic products nearing the end of their "useful life." Computers, TVs, VCRs, stereos, copiers, and fax machines are common electronic products. Many of these products can be reused, refurbished, or recycled.

Unfortunately, electronic discards is one of the fastest growing segments of our nation's waste stream. This definition includes used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal. Others define the re-usables (working and repairable electronics) and secondary scrap, steel, plastic to be "commodities", and reserve the term "waste" for residue or material which was represented as working or repairable but which is dumped or disposed or discarded by the buyer rather than recycled, including residue from reuse and recycling operations. Because loads of surplus electronics are frequently commingled , several public policy advocates apply the term "e-waste" broadly to all surplus electronics. The United States Environmental Protection Agency includes discarded CRT monitors in its category of "hazardous household waste"but considers CRTs set aside for testing to be commodities if they are not discarded, speculatively accumulated, or left unprotected from weather and other damage.

Electrical waste contains hazardous but also valuable and scarce materials. Up to 60 elements can be found in complex electronics.

In the United States, an estimated 70% of heavy metals in landfills comes from discarded electronics.