Technology will destroy our planetE-waste

By Corinne Keenan

What is it?

E-waste is a term used to cover almost all electrical and electronic equipment that has become obsolete, broken, or unwanted. This covers almost any household or business item that has circuitry or electronic components with power or battery supply (www.step-initiative.org).

Some examples include:› Old computers, home entertainment systems, cell

phones, fridges, washing machines, discmen/walkmen, electronic toys, etc.

Electronic and Electric Waste

www.ewasteblog.wordpress.com

Why is E-waste becoming a problem?

E-waste is becoming a bigger issue than ever before because of the market that the products are being produced in is growing rapidly.

Rapid product innovations are adding to the problem as we speak. Moving from the analogue to the digital world has increased the amount of e-waste by newer, better products being available. More people want to have the new digital type electronics such as flat screen TV’s instead of the old tube TV’s; this makes many products that still work become e-waste because people are consuming the newer products.

Large household appliances such as fridges, freezers, washers, and dryers have added a lot to e-waste and account for 44% of e-waste according to a study done in 2008.

(What is e-waste? – STEP)

The Problem, Con’t

The average life span of electronics these days in developed countries is about 2 years (www.shiftrecycling.com).

“Despite international agreements that prohibit the import and export of hazardous waste to developing countries, electronic waste continues to pour into the harbors of Kenya, India and China. In fact, about 50 per cent of e-waste generated in Canada and the United States each year, ends up in non-regulated, backyard recycling operations in these countries” (www.shiftrecycling.com).

It is almost 10 times cheaper to export the waste to these other countries than it is to deal with and dispose of it properly here in Canada and the United States.

How much e-waste is there? It is hard to determine how much e-waste there actually is on

the planet. This is due to many different e-waste analysis and collection

programs in different countries. Many areas consider different things as e-waste. In Europe they have 10 different divisions of e-waste, whereas in the North America most e-waste is considered to be Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and televisions, and lastly, Japan has only 4 product divisions for e-waste.

For a taste of how much e-waste there is in different places of the world; Europe alone was estimated to have 8.3 and 9.1 million tonnes of e-waste in 2005(www.step-initiative.org).

The US Environment Protection Agency reported that the States generated 1.9 to 2.2 million tonnes of e-waste in 2005 and only 12.5% of it was recycled (www.step-initiative.com)

Hazardous Material in E-waste Not only is the mere number of e-waste a problem with no

where to put all the unwanted electric or electronic equipment, there are many hazardous materials that are used to make these products and once they are thrown in the trash or landfills, many of these materials are releasing toxins right into the earth’s soil and our breathing air.

Some of these toxic materials include: lead, mercury, and cadmium (www.ewasteblog.wordpress.com).

There are also a lot of metals being thrown away that could be collected for recycling and reused in new electronics. These metals include: copper, gold, silver, palladium, etc. Throwing away materials that could be reused just creates the need to mine for more material instead of using what we already have (www.ewasteblog.wordpress.com).

Hazardous Material, Con’t

“An estimated 4,750 tonnes of lead is contained in personal computers and televisions that are disposed of each year in Canada. Exposure to high levels of lead, cadmium and mercury have been linked to adverse effects on human health and wildlife, including neuro-behavioural effects for lead, chronic kidney damage for cadmium, and sensory or neurological impairments for mercury” (www.shiftrecycling.com).

Methods for recycling in the countries that all the e-waste is exported to includes acid-baths and open fires which contribute to pollution of drinking water for these countries and pollution of the air the people are breathing in (www.shiftrecycling.com). Most of the time, the people dealing with these methods of “recycling” are doing so without any person protection equipment so they are constantly being exposed to the hazardous materials even more so than the rest of the communities that are in these areas.

A quick look at the pollution e-waste causes

Efforts to Reduce E-Waste

There are many places that now provide a place to recycle your unwanted, obsolete, or broken electronics. Many towns have bi-annual e-waste collection that are in place now where they set up a local drop off place for old electronics. There are also bins set up in parking lots in many places as well as small drop boxes inside certain stores such as Staples, where you can bring old cell phones, CD players, cameras etc.

Many waste companies will also not pick up electronics in the regular garbage or recycling anymore to reduce the amount of electronics ending up in the land fills.

Places you can bring your E-waste

There are many efforts in recycling e-waste being made all over the country. We are able to bring our out of date, old, broken, etc. electronics to many areas so they can be dealt with in a better manner rather then throwing hazardous materials out in the garbage. Some of these places for our area include:

City of Barrie – Electronics Recycling (www.barrie.ca/living) All Ontario Recycling (www.allontariorecyling.com) Just Junk Barrie (www.justjunk.com) Electronic Waste Ltd. (www.ewasteltd.ca)

References "All Ontario Recycling - e-Waste." All Ontario Recycling. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Aug. 2013.

<http://www.allontariorecycling.com/e-waste.html>. "E-Waste Problem | Shift Recycling."Computer and E-Waste Recycling in Toronto,

Markham, Mississauga and the GTA | Shift Recycling. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Aug. 2013. <http://shiftrecycling.com/e-waste.php>.

"E-Waste Removal Barrie | JUSTJUNK.com | Barrie E-Waste Removal." Junk Removal | JUSTJUNK® | Junk Pickup, Disposal and Recycling Services in Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Aug. 2013. <http://www.justjunk.com/e-waste-removal-barrie>.

"Electronics Recycling." The City of Barrie. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Aug. 2013. <http://www.barrie.ca/Living/GarbageAndRecycling/Pages/ElectronicsRecycling.aspx>

“Statistics | E-WASTE:WORLD." E-WASTE:WORLD | your electronics recycling community. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Aug. 2013. <http://ewasteblog.wordpress.com/category/statistics/

"What is e-waste? - STEP." STEP Startseite - STEP. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 July 2013. <http://www.step-initiative.org/index.php/Initiative_WhatIsEwaste.html>.

"What is E-Waste? | E-WASTE:WORLD."E-WASTE:WORLD | your electronics recycling community. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Aug. 2013. <http://ewasteblog.wordpress.com/about/