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Solutions to the problems caused by electronic waste to the environment
What is the role of technology in the environment
Solutions to the problems caused by electronic waste to the environment
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It is inevitable to deny that we are currently living in a world where technology plays a prominent part of our lives, and that this technology is ever-quickly transforming. Like all marketable consumer products, electronic products are continuously improved, altered, and designed to appeal to targeted consumers. Many of us are familiar with the struggle of having to catch up to current trends of consumer electronic devices. The useful lives of these products are relatively short, and in a year or two, it is almost expected that a new product with more capabilities and enhanced features will be in the market that would replace the old one. This ineffective process may be blamed on the all too Western mindset that better, newer things will essentially make us happier. As a society, we cause a stir every time a new i-Phone hits the market. Whether the rapid consumption and disposal cycle is driven by consumer demand or producer planned obsolescence does not matter; it is safe to assume that this mindset is going to be difficult to change. What should change – quickly – is the management of these e-waste disposals, the lack of awareness and concern among ill-informed consumers about how to safely discard of their electronic products to undermine how the significant amounts of electronic waste will directly impact the environment and human health.
Disposal of electronics obviously differs dramatically from the disposal of say, old mattresses or soda cans. Because e waste contains a number of toxic substances, they need to be disposed of properly to ensure safety of human and environmental health. As addressed in Hai-Yong Kang’s article “E-Waste in Recycling” (2005) , the disposal method is a problem because the amount of old electro...
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...ms very often go unregulated. There are significant challenges that this generation faces with e-waste, and as our society continues making advances on producing new electronics, we should also focus on minimizing the impact when disposing of these items.
Works Cited
Kang, Hai-Yong. “Electronic Waste Recycling: A Review of U.S. Infrastructure and Technology Options”. June 2, 2005. Edited by Julie M. Schoenung
Wong, M.H. “Export of Toxic Chemicals”, December 20, 2006. edited by S.C. Wu and X.Z. Yu
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Municipal solid waste in the United States: 2001 facts and figures, EPA-530-R-03-011; March 2003.
Herat, S. “Major Threats From E-Waste: Current Generation and Impacts”, Chemviews, April 5, 2011
Knudson, 2011. “Recycling E-Waste Yields Unexpected Byproduct: Fraud”, August 1, 2010, The Portland Press
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 article “Our E-Waste Problem Is Ridiculous, and Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping” by Christina Bonnington explains that our landfills are being filled with unused electronics of yesteryear. In 2011, there were 41.5 million tons of electronic wastes in landfills. In 2016, they projected the number to go up to 93.5 million tons. Specifically, our old products are in landfills now such as, HP computers, computer towers, cell phones, and batteries. The reason for all the waste is the human race is buying the newest electronics and not disposing of their unused and unwanted electronics properly. Also, not all of the unused electronics are recyclable. E-waste has a huge negative effect while in landfills because electronics breakdown and they breakdown
The e-waste trade is an exploitative industry in which electronics, circuit boards, old TV’s and desktops that are of no more value, get dumped into third world countries such as Ghana, Vietnam, Malaysia, Pakistan, Hong Kong, and many others. The people of these third world countries than burn the electronics in order to collect the remains and scraps of copper and iron that can be sold for money. The smell and burning smolder of plastic from the computers and old TV’s are incredibly toxic, slowly killing the children, women, and men that burn these e-waste remains in order to create a living for themselves. Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Emile Durkheim all have theories that can be applied and related to this trade of e-waste. Adam Smith’s theory
In many countries the term municipal solid waste (MSW) has different means. Now here in the United States it is commonly known as trash or garbage but in the United Kingdom it would be called refuse or rubbish. It is a waste type consisting of everyday items that people use and then throw away. These things consist of grass clippings, furniture, clothing, batteries, newspapers, food scraps and many other things that are used in our homes, schools, hospitals and businesses (EPA, 2014). It was reported that in 2012 Americans generated almost 251 million tons of trash and only recycled and composted almost 87 million tons (EPA, 2014). Therefore, municipal solid waste is the things we throw away every day.
The article, “Our E-Waste Problem is Ridiculous, and Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping,” by Christina Bonnington, focused the process of electronic devices to be recycled, the challenges of recycling electronic waste, and making devices more recyclable. First, Bonnington described the recycling process. Depending on the condition on the product will determine if it will be reused or stripped down to be destroyed. According to the author, having a simpler design makes the reprocessing easier to bare the electronics for turning into materials. Next, the author mentioned the challenges of recycling. One challenge is how electronics are becoming more compact and tougher to strip apart to separate the materials. Conferring to Bonnington, batteries are
"Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2010." United States Environmental Protection Agency. November 2011. http://www.epa.gov (accessed November 30, 2011).
E-waste is an enormous problem around the world and according to the “United Nation Environment Program 20 to 50 million tons of E-waste is generated worldwide annually (Ford)”. In fact, “ten thousand cell phones wind up in a landfill every day (Weston)”. When electronic waste is improperly dispose of it can cause problems to the environment and human health. Human health could be affected by toxic materials leaking into the drinking water or food supply. The materials in cell phones “contain lead, cadmium, and mercury that can potentially leak contaminant into the soil and groundwater (Mosieur)”. “Lead exposure to humans will damage to the nervous system, blood and kidneys and mercury exposure will cause brain damage (e-Catcher)”.
“Our E-Waste Problem is Ridiculous and Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping” written by Christina Bonnington focus on what dangerous and damaging affects e-waste has on the environment caused by gadget makers. Accordingly over forty million tons of the electronic devices, where a great fraction of the waste ending up in the landfills. For this reason, many of the chemicals in the electronics eventually seeps in the water supply. Although, it is not assume instantly as horrific, numerous chemicals in these devices are hazardous such as mercy, lead, and arsenic. This means the toxic chemicals are putting people and the landscape in danger. Meanwhile, damaged batteries that are in the electronics could cause an explosion, putting worker at risk whom remove
Dell, a global major IT infrastructure provider, has been at the forefront of applying the concepts of Circular Economy to the industry. With improved supply chain management, it has been able to tackle the problem of huge accumulations of e-waste, which comprises metals as well as plastics. A research has revealed that around 50 million tons of e-waste get discarded every year globally, which is a massive burden on the planet. By practicing reverse logistics of takeaways of obsolete computer hardware, Dell is able to release metals like gold, tin, and tungsten into the commodity markets and plastics back into
...nclusion, our society is inundated with disposable products that promise to improve our lives. There are dozens of new products invented yearly for manufacturers to cash in on the disposable craze. A disposable digital camera just came out on the market and a disposable cell phone is in the works for 2005. But disposable products aren’t perfect. They carry unseen environmental and social costs. The research proposal outlined above will provide more answers for our society in terms of how we are affected by the deluge of disposable culture. Knowledge is power, and knowing the truth about disposable products will help us better gauge the actions we should take as a society. Perhaps we should think about saving our future, rather than a couple minutes.
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.
A leading force is today’s technology driven world and that if the latest device is not in your possession then it is in sense a wrong doing. This is not as much of a major concern, the concern is the lack of personal sufficiency when without your device for the smallest amount of time. In the survey...
The Government of Canada disposes of a broad range of electronic and electrical equipment. For the 2011-2012 fiscal year, federal government spending in this area was estimated to be $1.2B and included computer, laboratory, medical, security, telecom, audio-visual, and office equipment [1]. A list of e-waste is provided in Annex 1 and Annex 2. Environment Canada reports that volumes of e-waste are increasing by 4% annually across the country [2]. It is now almost
As humanity develops new technology, the magnitude and severity of waste increases. When computers were developed, it widely was believed that the need for paper would be eliminated. On the contrary this was widely proven false and we are now utilizing more paper than ever. Canada is not an exception as the typical Canadian generates an average of three pounds of solid waste each day1. This alone shows what a careless species we have become- using and disposing materials without even considering the damage we are causing. With half a trillion tones of waste around the world, only 25% may be reused for a second or third time and less than 5% can be renewed limitlessly1. These facts are true only in developed countries. Since these traditional waste reduction methods have been proven inefficient, we must endorse new innovative technology to arrive at a solution.
White, P. & Franke, M., 1999: Integrated solid waste management: a lifecycle inventory. Gaithersburg, Md.: Aspen.