INTRODUCTION Toxic waste colonialism refers to the practice of exporting hazardous waste from developed countries to underdeveloped ones for disposal. It is the practice of developed nations who rid themselves of toxic or hazardous waste by shipping it to less developed areas of the world. The affected communities typically lack the resources, knowledge, political organization, or capital to resist the practice. There is a difference between toxic colonialism and environmental racism. Environmental racism is the inequitable distribution of environmental hazards based on race. Toxic colonialism can be seen as micro as it focuses on a specific area or group of people. Environmental racism can be seen as macro, examining the issue on a larger, Only 12.5% of E-Waste is recycled. 85% of E-Waste are sent to landfills and incinerators are mostly burned, and release harmful toxins in the air. Electronics contain lead which can damage our central nervous system and kidneys. E-waste contains hundreds of substances, of which many are toxic. This includes mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, chromium, and flame retardants. 80% of E-Waste in the US and most of other countries are transported to Asia. 300 million computers and 1 billion cell phones go into production annually. It is expected to grow by 8% per year. Cell phones and other electronic devices contain precious metals like gold and silver. The US alone throws away cell phones with $60 million worth of gold/silver yearly. Recycling 1 million laptops saves energy equivalent to the energy used by 3600 homes in the US annually. Most of the components of E-Waste are electronic equipment that can be re-used and recycled for materials recovery. REASONS FOR INCREASE 1. It requires low skilled labors which results in increase in employment opportunities in developing countries. 2. Complying with the environmental regulation in the waste producing country increases the cost of A large number of loop holes in the export and import policies of the developing countries. All these transactions related to toxic waste take place under the table and hence has no impact over the foreign exchange or Balance of Payments of such countries. 5. Rapid increase in the amount of e-waste, and materials like mercury are removed from the waste sludge for reuse which is used as a raw material for making other gadgets. NEGATIVE IMPACTS 1. Unusual health problems including acute respiratory infections, heavy dry coughing, mouth bleeding, abdominal hemorrhage, chemical skin reaction. 2. Contamination of the environment where the waste is exported. It affects the soil, water as well as the air around it. 3. Most of the workers employed in extraction of important materials from this waste is young labour. 4. Workers on e-waste sites are paid an average of $1.50 per day. They are unprotected while working with the toxic substances on the site. They are the first to inhale the toxins that are released in the air when electronic parts are
Even though electronic waste contributes one percent of waste as discussed earlier, it poses a significant threat to the environment. “RCRA does not, however, cover electronic waste except CRTs, nor does it regulate electronic devices donated for educational or charitable reuse.” The RCRA should implement rules to govern e-waste because e-waste not only affects lives in the United States, It affects everyone globally. E-waste typically finds its ways out of the United States and ends up in developing countries like
The piece of legislation that is responsible for enforcing and regulating the production of hazardous waste, its type of management and disposal methods is known as The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales)Regulations 2005. According to The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales)Regulations 2005 part 1 of the legislation it states in article 4 of the waste directive is that the waste must be disposed of in a way that doesn’t harm human health or resorting to ways which would degrade the environment such as the surrounding surface such as soil, the natural flora in the area and the local fauna of the surrounding environment.
Electronic waste, or any waste for that matter is an inevitable part of an economic system where the destruction of an ecosystem is the primarily source of resources that are used to create the product. The waste that occurs from this process has to be disposed of in some way and more often than not, it is disposed of carelessly with out consideration to the affect it would have on the environment or the very people that create and let capitalism live on, “The political economy approach also defers progress on environmental issues to a pint after economic ones are solved” (Robbins et al. 2010, 114). And if this continues there may be no place left for the excess waste created by capitalism.
Research conducted by Lillianna Guerrero et al. at the Built Department at Eindhoven University of Technology in Den Dolech showing the challenges of waste management challenges for cities in developing countries that waste management comes at a high cost that most countries don’t have the money to set aside for in the annual budget (1). They found that even when the money is set aside, failure to follow guidelines hurts the budget even more. This is important because they must figure out how to make sure guidelines are followed so they can make planned budget costs. Budgeting for a smaller country with no money can be tough especially when there is another factor in their country that needs as much resources as it can get, such as food and water supply for their countries people. Worsening the problem can be avoided if they inform their people on how to properly dispose of their waste and recycle item that could be used in place of another object that will potentially end up as harmful waste. According to Guerrero’s research the outcomes are a comprehensive list of stakeholders that are relevant in the waste management systems and a set of factors that reveal the most important causes for the systems’ failure. For example, failure to educated the public causes incorrect disposal techniques to
environment. How is the waste affecting us? Otis L. Graham used secondary sources in making
On March 22, 1989, after 18 months of intense negotiations, leaders from 105 nations unanimously adopted a treaty restricting shipments and dumpings of hazardous wastes across national borders. The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), is the first international convention to control the export of hazardous industrial wastes (Ruloff, 1989). A driving force behind the convention is the steady increase in international trade of hazardous waste over the past decade. There is a growing number of tempting, but environmentally questionable waste disposal contracts being offered and taken by nations (Ruloff, 1989). To combat this trend, the convention has three main objectives: to reduce transboundary movement of hazardous waste while minimizing their generation; to promote the disposal of such wastes as close as possible to their places of origin; and to prohibit the shipment of hazardous wastes to countries lacking the legal, administrative, and technical capacity to manage them in an environmentally sound manner. Since the Convention celebrates its 10th anniversary in December 1999, it is an appropriate time for an appraisal of how the Basel Convention has effected international trade of hazardous waste.
- It can harm the environment and add to pollution. Some environmentalists express their views on the adverse effects of globalization, including free trade. They emphasize that this will lead some countries to disregard the environment when it comes to producing products and getting rid of waste materials just so they can compete in the industry. With more competition, others might cut their costs like proper dumping of wastes and their process of
... and other physical wastes. Although recycling could be regarded as more expensive as compared to producing products by use of raw materials, it is very cost effective in the long run since it enhances the welfare of today’s and the future generation, as well as embracing environmental sustainability. Essentially, lack of recycling could otherwise lead to increased garbage and trash places, which would otherwise be burnt, and thereby release more poisonous gases into the air (Morris 94).
In old batteries, there is a toxic lead that is causing health problems for the Taiwan people who are disposing these batteries (Gay, 12). Space is becoming a landfill from the excess of space flights and the radioactive supplies from nuclear reactors, which could come to our atmosphere and explode (Gay, 13). When businesses run out of space to dump their toxic trash they go to poor nations because they do not have strict safety regulations (Gay, 31). The landfills on Earth are not the only place trash is getting put. The ocean is being trashed with plastic bags, soda can holders, and large fishnets, which are harming dolphins, turtles, sea lions, and others (Gay, 69). Military bases in the U.S have more hazardous waste and are responsible for contamination in soil and waters (Gay, 83). There are other hazards happening because we are throwing away so much stuff that companies have to remake all of those products. Incinerators are places where waste is burned to ashes and if we recycle these can go away. Incinerators cause sulfur dioxide, carbon m...
I. There seem to be some background points I must go over before I can properly persuade you to recycle; this includes definitions and standard waste makeup.
About 27 percent of the trash is recycled, 16 percent is burned, and 57 percent is buried in landfills. A landfill by definition is a carefully designed structure built into or on top of the ground in which trash is isolated from the surrounding environment. This isolation is made possible with a bottom liner and covering of soil. Most landfills use a synthetic plastic liner to isolate the trash from the environment. In a landfill, not all of the land is used for dumping trash. Some areas are used for runoff collecti...
The National Safety Council estimates that 300 million computers will be discarded by the year 2007. The recycling company BTTF estimates that 63 million computers will become obsolete in the year 2005. BTTF also estimates that ink cartridges for computers are being discarded at a rate of nearly eight per second. Another recycling company estimates that about 1 billion floppy disks, CD’s, and DVD’s are discarded of and eventually end up in landfills (Parsons, 104). This is important information because many people do not realize how harmful computer waste can be to the environment. With all these “old” parts of computers being thrown away at such a rapid rate it is critical to weigh your options for disposal because if everyone simply threw their old computers in the Wednesday trash we would have a problem in the very near future.
America and Europe are at the top of the list for most waste generated according to Waste (4). This is very visible because there’s litter on every street in the towns and cities, as well in lakes, beaches, and rivers. The book Waste by Rob Bowden states that the amount of waste produced is increasing at a rate faster than population growth. About 1.5 million computers, in the U.K, are thrown away each year and most end up in landfills. There are 3 types of waste which are Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial Waste, and Hazardous waste. MSW includes waste from public garbage cans and local dumpsters. Industrial Waste includes massive amounts of waste water that is contaminated with chemicals. Hazardous waste is the most dangerous as it presents a danger to human health and the environment. Solutions for waste disposal take time because people need to consider their lifestyle and limit the amount of waste they generate. A good start is to recycle items such as paper, cans, plastic, and clothes. This way they don’t end up in landfills, beaches, or streets. Another solution is to join organizations that go around places to recycle, or organizations that demand the reduction in the amount of products that are being
Traditional methods of waste disposal have proven to be ineffective and have caused harmful effects on the environment. The most popular and inexpensive way to get rid of garbage is burial, but burying your problems does not necessarily mean getting rid of them. Landfill sites pose as severe ecological threats as these mass garbage dump yards overflow with trash and frequently contaminate our air, soil and water with hazardous wastes. About 400 million tons of hazardous wastes are generated each year1. A large-scale release of these materials can cause thousands of deaths and may poison the environment for many years. For example many industrial companies around the world cannot afford to enforce the strict pollution regulations set by many developed countries. This usually forces these types of companies to move to developing countries where pollution regulations are very lenient. These developing countries knowingly accept environmentally hazardous companies usually because they are in desperate need of employment. The harmful effects of these companies were clearly illustrated in the 1960s and 1970s when residents living near Minamata Bay, Japan, developed nervous disorders, tremors, and paralysis in a mysterious epidemic. The root was later found to be a local industry that had released mercury, a highly toxic element, into Minamata Bay. The disaster had claimed the lives of 400 people1. Since 1970 you can bet that a lot more than 400 people have died as a result of waste disposal. If the type of waste disposal were cheaper and effective we wouldn’t have to deal with waste problems, which still plague mankind today.
Efficient waste managing approaches help with reducing and avoiding unpleasant impact on the environment and human health, while allowing financial development and progress in the quality of people’s life. People do not even imagine what is the size and capacity of their activities and the impact they produce on the environment. Garbage is an important ecological problem. It is seems amazing that approximately all of the citizens of the world identify rubbish as a major environmental problem and yet these people still litter. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (2008), an American produces 250 million tons of garbage per year (para.2). There are different circumstances that are based on the society, environmental conditions, occupation and size of each of the different family. As Richmond (2010) stated, if no administration organizations has the responsibility or resources to concentrate their efforts on the waste disposal, then the responsibility to do that is on ...