Posted by: Tyler Avery
E-Waste. Before researching the environmental impacts of IT, I had no idea that this was such a large problem. E-waste is a loose term, since electronics come in all types, shapes and sizes. Defined as being any type of consumer or business electronic that has reached its useful lifetime expectancy, E-waste is becoming an increasing challenge in the human health environmental field.
E-Waste. Before researching the environmental impacts of IT, I had no idea that this was such a large problem. E-waste is a loose term, since electronics come in all types, shapes and sizes. Defined as being any type of consumer or business electronic that has reached its useful lifetime expectancy, E-waste is becoming an increasing challenge in the human health environmental field.
At first, I took this as a small problem, but consider this:
every electronic item that you have previously owned times all the people who
own electronics times the past 20 or so years. Each time a new phone, computer,
television, microwave, stereo, copier, fax machine, typewriter, etc was
rendered out of date and consumers bought new ones, where do the old ones go?
All the old large screen monitors, old cathode ray televisions, all the refrigerators
and home appliances, technically anything after its useful life, obviously made its way to the
landfill. But landfills can only be so large, can only hold so
much tonnage.
It has been reported
that every year, the world tosses 20-50 million metric tons of electronics;
only recycling about 12-18%. I discovered an informative infographic depicting
e-waste here.
When we toss aside our old equipment, sometimes it doesn’t stay locally. It can
be exported to countries like Nigeria, Pakistan, India and China. The
infographic describes more, putting into pictures, that people in these
countries actually dismantle the used goods and then they are either incinerated,
put in a landfill there, or dumped as waste water. That’s kind of upsetting. And honestly speaking, not everyone is trying to minimize their carbon footprint.That
is why companies like Gazelle are becoming popular. They are heading up the
recycling of used electronics in an effort they call Re-Commerce. I take it you
have seen the ads on TV.
In order to curtail this problem, consumers are asked
to follow the old 3 R's mantra Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. You can even donate your
old phones or similar items to charity. A web page here
advises 5 good charities to participate in, if you feel so inclined.
What sort
of E-waste have you contributed to? What are better ways to solve it? Comment
below.
http://www.epa.gov/international/toxics/ewaste/index.html
http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/electronics/whatisewaste/
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/crazy-e-waste-statistics-explored-in-infographic.html
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/donate-cell-phone-charity.htm#page=0
I think that this is such an interesting topic to discuss and more people should be aware of the consequences abroad due to our waste. Countries are literally having their drinking water polluted because we aren't recycling our old IT products. It's easy to forget about that old cell phone or tv you throw away every year, but we should be thinking about it because it is affecting people in different parts of the world. I believe this issue will only continue to grow in relevance as the use of IT grows and more and more technology becomes outdated.
ReplyDelete-Meaghann Smith
I couldn't agree more Meaghann. The US especially is thirsty for the newest products. The iPhone5 release sold something like 40+ million new phones. What happened to the old ones? They don't disappear.
ReplyDeleteThis is an issue I think goes overlooked more times than not. I think as a society we are so caught up in and focused on the new developments in tech and, with each new development, we forget about the old stuff. I appreciate you bringing awareness with your article.
ReplyDeleteI used to contribute to E-waste without even thinking about it until I met my husband. He is in IT and at ifrst I thought what is the big deal, just throw it in hte dumpster, until he explained the implecations of not donating or recycling eletronics. I am yet to be better at recycling traditionally but electronic recycling has become second nature. Maybe because of how frequently one decides to replace an electronic versus a bottle of water.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Ries
Wow. I've always felt bad when I dispose of old electronics (usually they sit in a corner for a year because I hate the thought of just tossing them in the dumpster). I guess I've known theoretically that there are serious implications of e-waste, but seeing them laid out in that graphic was powerful. Definitely going to change the way I dispose of things, and the way I consume them too. Maybe we don't always need the newest device!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the recycling options.
ReplyDelete