When humanity entered the Information Age, it was heralded
as the end to paper waste. Everything
would be electronically created, storage, shared, and viewed. Computers, the Internet, wireless, and the
mass of new technology was going to remove the need for this kind of
waste. What wasn’t thought of was the
new kind of waste that was going to be created as obsolete or broken down
electronics and gadgets became replaced by the next version.
E-waste has become a growing concern for most nations. Landfills have become filled with our old
computers, cell phones, printers, iPods, and other electronics that we take for
granted. However, our experience in
dealing with waste in general is showing that we are prepared to deal with
e-waste so long as we are committed to doing so. Recycling programs, government initiatives,
and social responsibility are leading the challenge in dealing with this
by-product of evolving technology.
What is E-Waste?
E-waste is what has become known as the discarded
electronics and appliances that are commonly found in homes and
businesses. They are the computers, cell
phones, printers, refrigerators, gaming consoles, and other consumer
electronics that have become obsolete, broken, or surplus. On average, the most common electronic
devices are replaced frequently:
- Cell phones – replaced every 22 months.
- Desktop computers – replaced every 2 years.
- Televisions – replaced every 10+ years.
- Portable music players – replaced every 2-3 years.
- DVD players – replaced every 4-5 years.
- Printers – replaced every 5+ years.
Every year, there is between 20 to 50 million metric tons of
e-waste, representing the faster growing portion of municipal waste.
Historically, e-waste has contained many hazardous
materials. There was lead and mercury in
old cathode ray tube televisions, cadmium in batteries, and the presence of
hexavalent chromium, acrylamide, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated
diphenyl ether in many other electronics.
In throwing such waste into landfills, these hazardous materials and
chemicals can leach into the soil and cause significant and irreparable damage
to delicate ecosystems.
Statistics and
Perspective
Our lives are centred around electronics. The average home will purchase $1,179 worth
of electronics every year. To put this
into perspective, approximately 5.1 million televisions were purchased in the
United States for the sole purpose of being ready for the 2012 NFL
Superbowl. Over 99 million televisions
are stockpiled for sale in the United States at any given time. All of these will one day end up as e-waste.
Initiatives to reduce the amount of e-waste the end up in
landfills are underway. One of the
driving forces behind this is the amount of expensive metals that are used in
the construction of electronics that can be reused and sold. In 1 million cell phones, there is 24 kg of
gold, 250 kg of silver, 9 kg of palladium, and 9,000 kg of copper. These are able to reused in new electronics,
reducing the amount required to mine them.
These metals are also commodities themselves, and are easily traded and
sold as well.
What is Being Done
The reasons for reducing the amount of e-waste are many,
from reducing the sizes of landfills, preventing hazardous materials from
leaching into the environment, and creating businesses that harvest precious
metals. First, it is important to note
that many of our electronics are now manufactured with less environmentally
damaging materials. The transition from
CRT TVs to LED TVs removed the need for lead and mercury. Cadmium is no longer used in batteries (still
in rechargeable ones) and hexavalent chromium and acrylamide and no longer used
in any electronic manufacturing.
Finally, flame retardant materials such as polybrominated biphenyls and
polybrominated diphenyl have been phased out as safer materials have replaced
them. This has massively reduced the
amount of hazardous materials that leach into the soil from e-waster that does
make it to the landfills.
Canada has adopted the Federal Sustainable Development
Strategy, a government initiative that amalgamates the efforts
of more than 25 different agencies in combating environmental issues. Through this, the Electronics Product Stewardship Canada,
a not-for-profit organization, has been created.
It is currently operational in 7 different provinces with it
pending approval in the 3 others. The
territories currently have no plans for inclusion under this initiative. This has created a nationwide standard for
e-waste recycling. In addition, several
major municipal governments in Canada have passed even stricter bylaws to
further remove e-waste from their landfills.
This has led to direct cost savings for cities are landfill use is
lowered. It is estimated that British
Columbia has saved almost $24 million through their recycling programs and
Ontario has saved more than $65 million.
This has led to Canada becoming an international leader in e-waste
management and recycling. Even the 2010
Vancouver Winter Olympic medals were all made from recovered
materials from e-waste!
What Can You Do?
The reduction of e-waste begins with us. We must evaluate whether we really need that
next generation cell phone now or if our current and still working one is
good. Electronics that we are no long
using can also be given to others to use, sent to recycling centres, or be
donated to programs such as Computers for Schools or through partners of the
federal Crown Assets Distribution.
We all want new technology and electronics. However, we must be conscious in how we
dispose of the ones we are no longer using.
In doing this simple act, we can lower the amount of e-waste that makes
its way to landfills and can extend the lives of electronic devices through
donation or recycle them so that their materials can be used in the new gadgets
that we want!
