Electronic waste is one of the fastest growing environmental issues not
only in the United States, but all around the world. Electronics are at the center of today’s day to day operations. We
all use them at home, school and work but never do we consider the
environmental and health hazards associated with the improper disposal of these
gadgets. In August of 2010, climate change was replaced by electronic waste as
one of the top areas of global environmental concern by EPA’s Administrator
Lisa Jackson after the meeting of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation
in Guanajuato, Mexico.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) reports similar
statistics to the EPA except that in addition, SVTC reports that around 90% of
e-waste ends up directly in landfills. The remaining 10% gets wrongly mixed
with other recyclables. Of the 10% recycled, only 20% goes through proper
electronic recycling. A warping 80% gets
shipped off (mostly illegally) to developing continents like Africa, Asia and
India. With tighter environmental regulations, the cost for properly recycling
one ton of electronic waste in the United States and Europe is about 1400
dollars. When companies ship the waste to third world continents like Africa,
Asia, India, they only have to pay about forty dollars per ton of electronic
waste. Recyclers in these developing continents use dangerous means to extract
minimal amounts of valuable materials like silver, gold, palladium while
exposing themselves to heavy toxic metals like lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium
etc. In Asia, Africa and India, circuit boards are processed with open flames
or acid baths, monitors and TVs filled with lead are smashed open with basic
tools, plastics are melted with toxic flame retardants. All of this is
generally done by impoverished workers, often including children. The final resting
place for most of the left over e-waste components is in landfills. Electronic
waste contains heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, lead, etc. which cause
various health hazards when introduced into the human body. At the landfills, some of the toxins are
introduced into the air and some rainfall transfers some into drinking water
and soil. In the United States there are limits against heavy metal exposure.
Because third world countries do not have them, it doesn’t give us the right to
put their lives in danger. The United States is one out of only three countries
out of all the countries in the world that refuse to sign the treaty banning
the shipment of hazardous waste like e-waste to less fortunate nations.