The electronic waste is becoming more and more necessary. most of the countries do not have plan for recycling electronic devices. What do you think countries should do?
In 2016, the world’s population discarded 49 million tons of e-waste (equivalent to about 4,500 Eiffel Towers). It’s estimated that by 2021, that number will grow to more than 57 million tons.
the life span of devices is getting shorter—many products will be thrown away once their batteries die, to be replaced with new devices. Companies intentionally plan the obsolescence of their goods by updating the design or software and discontinuing support for older models, so that now it is usually cheaper and easier to buy a new product than to repair an old one. Meanwhile, the companies continue to profit from steady sales.
With the flood of e-waste growing around the world, recycling alone will not be enough. Here are some other ideas and solutions that are being researched, considered or practiced around the world. Hopefully, they will inspire more adoption of best practices.
Designing better products
The right to repair
Extended Producer Responsibility
More convenient recycling
What you can do about e-waste
The best thing you can do is to resist buying a new device until you really need it. Try to get your old product repaired if possible and if it can’t be fixed, resell or recycle it responsibly.
Before you recycle your device, seal up any broken parts in separate containers so that hazardous chemicals don’t leak. Wear latex gloves and a mask if you’re handling something that’s broken.
Find a responsible recycler. Recyclers with the E-Steward label on their websites have been certified to meet the cleanest and most responsible standards for e-waste recycling. E-Steward recyclers also clear your data in their recycling process.
The famous ABC should work. Awareness, Behavior, Change. Raising awareness, meaning that governments and NGOs should emphasize the advantages of recycling and the dangers of improper disposal. Influencing the behavior, by convincing individuals and companies why e-waste should be recycling and coming up with actual, practical plans for recycling. Change, meaning putting into practice all that's been said above. Setting up collection centers for e-waste and (maybe) offering small bonuses or discounts for people who bring their old electronics to be recycled. :)
In 2016, the world’s population discarded 49 million tons of e-waste (equivalent to about 4,500 Eiffel Towers). It’s estimated that by 2021, that number will grow to more than 57 million tons.
the life span of devices is getting shorter—many products will be thrown away once their batteries die, to be replaced with new devices. Companies intentionally plan the obsolescence of their goods by updating the design or software and discontinuing support for older models, so that now it is usually cheaper and easier to buy a new product than to repair an old one. Meanwhile, the companies continue to profit from steady sales.
With the flood of e-waste growing around the world, recycling alone will not be enough. Here are some other ideas and solutions that are being researched, considered or practiced around the world. Hopefully, they will inspire more adoption of best practices.
Designing better products
The right to repair
Extended Producer Responsibility
More convenient recycling
What you can do about e-waste
The best thing you can do is to resist buying a new device until you really need it. Try to get your old product repaired if possible and if it can’t be fixed, resell or recycle it responsibly.
Before you recycle your device, seal up any broken parts in separate containers so that hazardous chemicals don’t leak. Wear latex gloves and a mask if you’re handling something that’s broken.
Find a responsible recycler. Recyclers with the E-Steward label on their websites have been certified to meet the cleanest and most responsible standards for e-waste recycling. E-Steward recyclers also clear your data in their recycling process.
It is a big task for human being and required alertness. am agreed with both and ABC is must required. But few industries support to increase this problem for there few financial benefits . So Govt. NGO and everybody alertness is must to control this problem.
Electronic devices are made of a complex mix of materials that include gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium, lithium, cobalt and other valuable elements. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says, “One metric ton of circuit boards can contain 40 to 800 times the amount of gold and 30 to 40 times the amount of copper mined from one metric ton of ore in the United States.” These precious materials can be reclaimed through recycling. But electronic devices also comprise toxic heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium, polluting PVC plastic, and hazardous chemicals, such as brominated flame retardants, which can harm human health and the environment. In 2016, the estimated value of recoverable materials in global e-waste was $64.6 billion, but only 20 percent of it was properly recycled to enable recovery of the valuable materials. Much of the rest is dumped in landfills where toxic chemicals can leach from the e-waste and end up contaminating the water supply.
https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/08/27/growing-e-waste-problem/
Please see the following link:
https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/blog/2020/dealing-with-electronic-waste-in-developing-countries.html
It's a growing problem, and something needs to be done very fast. It's totally unfair that the huge quantities produced of e-waste end up in some developing countries that voluntarily accept being disposal sites for these hazardous devices. This can create some jobs in the short term, but the importing country will suffer the long term consequences of environmental damage and health harm to its citizens. This high-tech waste possibly needs to be handled in a high-tech manner within the principles of the circular economy. The price of new devices should include the cost of recycling.
Electronic recycling should be subsidized by governments as quickly as possible. Despite the quite prohibitive costs involved in the whole process, there is a huge potential for reusing components like ICs, PCBs, and others. Depending on the workforce and machinery's investment, electronic parts may provide an astronomic profit (some estimates that over 50 times the non-recycled material).
It generates jobs, recover important (and scarce) resources, and, certainly, profit for the braves entrepreneurs who dare to enter this market.
I suggest global network in this huge matter Colin Sokol Kuka
Urban mining is profitable. All components of electronic waste can be reclamed to marketable products nowadays, even circuit board plastic. Then, it is a mere question of right management. A broad selection of technologies are available at reasonable investment cost, like this for instance:
Look at this: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/index_en.htm
This completely government job. The government should collect these devices through some supported agents (same idea as subsidy ) and then recycle them.
Gianluca Sarti, Many thanks for sharing this valuable information. These regulations can be a reference for other countries to establish their own. In a globalized economy, many parties need to agree on a global solution and that takes time. Meanwhile, the production levels keep growing and so is the amount of waste to be processed. If reasonable agreements have been reached in the past for other pollutants we should be able to reach them also for e-waste.
Many thanks Carlos Rodríguez-Monroy for your contribution. I live in UK and very soon will be not following EU legislation. I agree with you that every country should establish their own laws and these are only a reference for every country.
Recycling is crucial. Spare parts could be utilized and re-manufactured.
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