Million metric tons of electronic waste, is generated every year and piling up in developing countries which are their chief buyers.
Additionally, does the quest for extracting gold from these waste worth more than their negative impacts
it degrade the environment
occupy more space
it arrest water penetration in the soil
most of the e waste made from plastics which is serious problem and environmental issues
E-waste-connected health risks may result from direct contact with harmful materials such as lead, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), from inhalation of toxic fumes, as well as from accumulation of chemicals in soil, water and food.
Dear Luaay Abdulwahid Shihab burning such dangerous waste could result in more toxic compounds badly affecting environment
I thought a lot of e-waste can be recycled. I am aware of the health risks of burning the components. I support any and all green solutions.
brigid
Power plant wastes, e- wastes and non- bio degradable domestic wastes (like plastics) WILL destroy the present human civilization SOON by making the global environment non -suitable for LIFE.
I thought that most of e-waste must be recycled. This alternative is advantageous both for economy and environment.
When electronics end up in landfills, toxics like lead, mercury, and cadmium leach into the soil and water. The electronic waste problem is huge: More than 20 million tons of e-waste are produced every year.
e-waste is a rapidly growing problem with many issues attached:
Mining limited and in many cases toxic resources
Refining and incorporating these into devices
The extremely limited life-span and in most cases non-upgradeable nature of our devices
The rapidly growing wastepile of said devices,and the exportation of waste to less developed countries,with poor infrastructure for recycling.
There are lots more problems,but surely stripping these devices and recycling the metals etc contained therein ought to be a major priority.
Manufacturers ought to be able to make their products easier to upgrade also,and to extend their lifespans,as well as offering the ability to return to base for recycling.
Each country should reduce it, redesign and repurpose it. Oh, it would be nice to contain it within borders.
Electronic wasts are very dangerous and can be the cause of several diseases like cancer, nervosa breakdown, and so on. Indeed, Electronic wasts contains heavy metals and other dangerous liquids and plastics and glass. Several matter can exist for more than 1000 years. For exampe, The oil from electrical transformers are very harmful to health. So the must is treat and recover the electrinc wasts.
stimulating query that provoked several informative comments from our RG colleagues
Some electronic wastes contain valuable metals. One common problem is the collection and segregation of materials containing valuable metals from materials that may not have valuable metals.
We should try to recycle the Electronic waste as much as possible. Some major harmful elements like battery, lead, chromium should be carefully handled.
With new cheap devices, society has reaped tremendous benefits. This explosive growth in the electronics industry, however, has led to a rapidly escalating issue of end-of-life (EOL) electronics or e-waste. In landfills or primitive recycling operations, toxic materials can be released from old electronic devices into the environment.
Electronic wastes are so dangerous and can lead to diseases, so should be carefully handled
I agree with Mazin H Al-Hawaz that electronic waste are very dangerous and in the next several years we will here how correlated with various cancers they have become.
the question now is what is the solution to save the environment and people from the danger of this e-waste that keeps increasing?
To me, electronic waste is synonymous with a dangerous outcome and over time such waste enters the soil and finds itself in our foods (we grow food but don't know the nature of the soil well enough) water systems through cracked pipes and in kids mouth who play outside and taste the soil believing that the soil is not harmful. Then, after several years cases of cancer appear
It's a dangerous wasts which must be recycled far from towns and collectivities.
I have seen the largest e-waste site in West Africa - it is the hell! See my paper: "Informal processing of electronic waste at Agbogbloshie, Ghana: workers' knowledge about associated health hazards and alternative livelihoods."
Christian G Meyer, sorry about the weird post, the dog decided to play and I lost the post and sent your name. Thank you for the link. I am ashamed that I have bought a new computer instead of getting a refurbished one. Thank you for bringing to light the seriousness of electronic waste. I thought that there was a little waste because computers were recyclable based on the drives for old computers and electronic devices. Regrettably, I was in my own bubble, not paying attention.
brigid
go to this site: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=abagbloshie
You will find 37 papers about the e-waste burning site Agbogbloshie in Accra, Ghana
Yes,
These wasts contain heavy and metals and several dangerous metters.
https://www.google.de/search?hl=de&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1339&bih=731&ei=rMeQXebzAa3RmwXSh6HgAQ&q=agbogbloshie&oq=agbog&gs_l=img.1.0.0l5j0i30l5.7110.11238..12860...1.0..0.113.660.0j6......0....1..gws-wiz-img.....0.tSSNG2RwTa0#imgrc=nB2CVRLJOmI34M:
For my view the goal of the human protection and solving the ecosystem is the way than extraction the gold.
Dear Muhammad Abdullah Bin Masood,
Some major impacts of E-waste on environment are Toxic materials like lead, zinc, nickel, flame retardants, barium and chromium, found in computers and most electronics, if released into the environment, can cause damage to human blood, kidneys as well as central and peripheral nervous system. E-waste-connected health risks may result from direct contact with harmful materials such as lead, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), from inhalation of toxic fumes, as well as from accumulation of chemicals in soil, water and food.
Electronic waste (e-waste) products have exhausted their utility value through either redundancy, replacement, or breakage and include both “white goods” such as refrigerators, washing machines, and microwaves and “brown goods” such as televisions, radios, computers, and cell phones. Given that the information and technology revolution has exponentially increased the use of new electronic equipment, it has also produced growing volumes of obsolete products; e-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams. Although e-waste contains complex combinations of highly toxic substances that pose a danger to health and the environment, many of the products also contain recoverable precious materials, making it a different kind of waste compared with traditional municipal waste.
where we will keep old electronics?
· Don't trash them. First, we should never throw e-waste in the trash! ...
· Pass them on for reuse. ...
· Recycle them. ...
· Find a good e-waste recycler. ...
· Staples stores. ...
· Best Buy stores. ...
· Do a cell phone recycling drive and fundraiser in your school.
· Learn to fix broken gadgets yourself.
The dirty little secret is that when electronic waste to a recycler, instead of throwing it in a trashcan, about 80 percent of that material, very quickly, finds itself on a container ship going to a country like China, Nigeria, India, Vietnam, Pakistan — where very dirty things happen to it, this is just a view. every country does the same.
The increase in consumption of electronics has two major adverse ecological effects. First, it significantly increases mining and procurement for the materials needed for production of gadgets. And second, discarded devices produce large quantities of electronic waste. That waste could be reduced through reuse, repair, or resale. Whether it ever will be is an open question.
Refer site:
1. https://ehs.ucsc.edu/programs/waste-management/recycling-disposal/e-waste.html
Global cost of economy waste
2. https://ehs.ucsc.edu/programs/waste-management/recycling-disposal/e-waste.html
Ashish
This report is right to the point of food chain contamination for workers at e-waste site in Agbogbloshie Technical Report Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Eggs: Report from Africa
by Jindrich Petrlik , Eric Akortia , Gilbert Kuepouo , Peter A. Behnisch , Lee Bell , Joseph Digangi et al., where the highest ever measured level of dioxins in free range chicken eggs was observed right at Agbogbloshie. I think that research of POPs in cows and so on at that place is really needed.
E-waste is not only issue for waste management. It is also political issue as there is interest of condinued oportunity to export end of life electronics from developed countries of global North to global South which is not good option for the environment of countries in Africa, Asia or Latin America. E-waste contains high levels of brominated flame retardants and stricter limits for content of these chemicals in wastes would help to stop flood of e-waste at places like Agbogbloshie. More issues related to this topic are discussed in:
Technical Report Weak controls: European e-waste poisons Africa's food chain
by Lee Bell et al.This problem also has its sociological and economic angle which is not so easy to address, off course, see Article Intelligent enterprise: Wasting, valuing and re-valuing wast...
by Oteng-Ababio, M. et al.Problem is that e-waste is rising also at another site in Ghana, Kumasi: Article Understanding the factors for increased informal electronic ...
by Michael Osei Asibey , Anne Mette Lykke and King, R.S.
Indeed this is an enormous problem caused by bad controlled waste streams and too many regretable substitued chemicals....and the polluter should be involved to clean it up..
After China closed doors for electronic waste, its neighborhood countries got on the top of the list of destinations for e-waste. See for example this recent news about Thailand: https://english.arnika.org/press-releases/improper-processing-of-electronic-waste-leads-to-damage-to-human-health-the-environment-and-the-earth-s-ozone-layer
and also this report: https://english.arnika.org/publications/trading-away-health-and-the-environment-the-toxic-business-of-waste-imports-into-thailand
Another example of business not thinking through the consequences of their actions. Hard to blame them, after all they are not trained scientists
Electrical waste is hazardous waste. Unfortunately, large amounts of this waste end up in countries like Ghana, Nigeria, and Pakistan. The population in these parts of the world is below the average income. The only way to earn a living is to extract precious metals from electrical waste so that they can survive. The conditions and manner of waste treatment are dangerous for their health and the environment.
Nice contributions from other responders. I learned from them. Thank you.
E-waste must be recycled. The lifecycle of the metals invobled must be considered by the companies and engineers during the design phase of every product.
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