E-WASTE
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INTRODUCTION
Electronics industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing industry. The last decade has seen a tremendous growth in the manufacturing and consumption of electronics and electrical all over the world. As a consequence of this growth, combined with rapid product obsolescence and lower costs, discarded electronic and electrical equipments or ‘e-waste’ is now the most rapidly growing waste problem in the world.
E-waste is end-of-life electronic and electrical gadgets, in simpler words, broken, surplus or obsolete gadgets run by electricity. It includes discarded equipments like computers, printers, phones, TVs, fridges, toaster, electronic toys and many other types of equipment run by electricity. India, currently, is estimated to generate more than 4 lakh tones of e-waste annually. The generation is estimated to go up many times in coming years, making it a critical issue.
WHAT IS E-WASTE
E-waste is a term used to cover almost all types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) that has or could enter the waste stream. Although e-waste is a general term, it can be considered to cover TVs, computers, mobile phones, white goods (e.g. fridges, washing machines, dryers etc), home entertainment and stereo systems, toys, toasters, kettles – almost any household or business item with circuitry or electrical components with power or battery supply. E-waste is the most rapidly growing waste problem in the world.
• It is a crisis of not quantity alone but also a crisis born from toxics ingredients, posing a threat to the occupational health as well as the environment.
• Rapid technology change, low initial cost, high obsolescence rate have resulted in a fast growing problem around the globe.
• Legal framework, proper collection system missing.
• Imports regularly coming to the recycling markets.
• Inhuman working conditions for recycling.
E-WASTE IS DIFFERENT FROM GENERAL MUNCIPAL WASTE
In addition to various hazardous materials, e-waste also contains many valuable and precious materials. In fact up to 60 elements from the periodic table can be found in complex electronics. Using the personal computer (PC) as an example – a normal Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) computer monitor contains many valuable but also many toxic substances. One of these toxic substances is cadmium (Cd), which is used in rechargeable computer batteries and contacts and switches in older CRT monitors.
Cadmium can bio-accumulate in the environment and is extremely toxic to humans, in particular adversely affecting kidneys and bones (5). It is also one of the six toxic substances that has been banned in the European Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive. Beyond CRT monitors, plastics, including polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cabling is used for printed circuit boards, connectors, plastic covers and cables.
When burnt or land-filled, these PVCs release dioxins that have harmful effects on human reproductive and immune systems (6). Mercury (Hg), which is used in lighting devices in flat screen displays, can cause damage to the nervous system, kidneys and brain, and can even be passed on to infants through breast milk .
HOW MUCH E-WASTE THERE
Because so much of the planet’s e-waste is unaccounted for, it is difficult to quantify e-waste amounts. Moreover, the types of e-waste included in government-initiated analyses and collection programmes vary from country to country. Under the current version of the WEEE Directive, the EU has 10 distinct product categories, whereas in North America it is typically limited to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products and televisions and in Japan to four product categories including TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines.
The deviation in categorization of e-waste notwithstanding, reasonable estimates are in the order of 40 million tonnes p.a., which is enough to fill a line of dump-trucks stretching half way around the globe.
But what happens to the e-waste?
Unfortunately, an incredibly small percentage of e-waste is recycled. Even when we take it to a recycling center it’s usually not actually recycled – not in the way most of us think of that term.
A small percentage of e-waste is estimated to be sent to recyclers. In the U.S., as little as 11%-14%. The remainder is most often dumped or burned – either in formal landfills and incinerators, or informally dumped or burned. These inappropriate disposal methods for electronic waste fail to reclaim valuable materials or manage the toxic materials safely. In effect, our soil, water and air are easily contaminated.
An estimated 70-80% of the e-waste that’s given to recyclers is exported to less developed countries. Once there, primitive technologies such as open air burning and riverside acid baths are used to extract a few materials. The rest of the toxic materials are usually dumped. Unlike other countries in the world, the U.S. sends a significant portion of its hazardous e-waste to U.S. prisons to process in less-regulated environments without the worker protections and rights afforded in the private sector. Moreover, such operations amount to government subsidies, undermining the development of responsible private-sector recycling infra-structure and distorting the economics of recycling.
Confidential data exposed to the world
When we give an old computer to a recycler, we are also giving them stored data, unless it has been ‘wiped’ of data. Most of the time, the hard drives aren’t secured, their information isn’t wiped – making it publicly available if in the wrong hands. In fact, in a recent study, everything from bank records to classified missile test results were found on a random sample of hard drives on eBay. The Ponemon Institute estimates that 70% of data breaches come from offline computers, usually after they have been disposed of by the equipment owner.