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E-waste IB extended essay
Impacts and solutions to e-waste
E-waste IB extended essay
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While technology has revolutionized the way people live, it has not come without a direct environmental cost. Toxic waste or electronic waste (e-waste), produced by obsolete electronic products, is growing at an alarming rate, and poses a severe environmental threat. In light of challenges underlined by this new kind of waste, sound management is imperative. Although, America and Asia are economically very different from each other, ironically they do not differ much when it comes to the `mismanagement' of e-waste: unsafe disposition practices, lax legislation, and inadequate recycling.
Disposal of e-waste is one of the major problems faced in America. Despite being financially sound, America has no proper infrastructure built for safe disposal of e-waste. The vast majority of e-waste, "collected from consumers and recycling depots by middlemen," is landfilled, or simply stockpiled. Then, searching for cheaper ways to dispose of it, shipped to developing countries in Asia under the pretext of "recycling" or "donating."
Similarly, Asia has no proper means for the safe disposal of e-waste. E-waste, largely imported from the developed countries, is "dumped in massive piles and disassembled," or merely burned - releasing poisonous fumes into the atmosphere. To aggravate the matter, rural villagers sort through discarded electronics without any protection from the toxic materials, gravely endangering their health.
Although, a number of state-level legislations concerning e-waste disposal have been passed in America, the lack of comprehensive federal legislation to back them up brings their effectiveness into question. The different legislations adopted by individual states not only become hard for the industries to comply wit...
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...ecycling industries in India are said to be disorganized, unmonitored and lacking basic safety measures. The report added that these industries "[poison] air, water, land and [local people] with toxins such as mercury, lead and arsenic."
In conclusion, while rapidly advancing technology has radically changed people's lifestyle, it has come at the expense of the environment. With e-waste, produced from outdated electronic products, becoming a more prevalent problem, it is important for both America and Asia to develop effective disposition strategies, more aggressive legislations, and better recycling programs. However, greater onus falls on America, because if America does not ship the hazardous waste to Asia, then Asia would have to deal with their domestic e-waste only. Nevertheless, it is time that they address this growing problem before it gets much worse.
A political con associated with the policy is the fact that the law encourages states to add but not take away rules outlined in this legislation. As stated by Dale, "the act encourages states to create their own regulatory programs to manage waste so long as those programs utilize standards consistent with—or in excess of—federal limits." (Dale, 2015). This leave states with little room to make improvements to cater to their states specifically. The tension between state and federal waste management agencies are typical today. This is not beneficial for development of waste management.
The e-waste trade is an exploitative industry in which electronics, circuit boards, old TV’s and desktops that are of no more value, get dumped into third world countries such as Ghana, Vietnam, Malaysia, Pakistan, Hong Kong, and many others. The people of these third world countries than burn the electronics in order to collect the remains and scraps of copper and iron that can be sold for money. The smell and burning smolder of plastic from the computers and old TV’s are incredibly toxic, slowly killing the children, women, and men that burn these e-waste remains in order to create a living for themselves. Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Emile Durkheim all have theories that can be applied and related to this trade of e-waste. Adam Smith’s theory
Electronic waste, or any waste for that matter is an inevitable part of an economic system where the destruction of an ecosystem is the primarily source of resources that are used to create the product. The waste that occurs from this process has to be disposed of in some way and more often than not, it is disposed of carelessly with out consideration to the affect it would have on the environment or the very people that create and let capitalism live on, “The political economy approach also defers progress on environmental issues to a pint after economic ones are solved” (Robbins et al. 2010, 114). And if this continues there may be no place left for the excess waste created by capitalism.
We also witnessed a recycling area full of e-waste and various recycled materials. This waste was piled around homes; even children played around it. As we know this waste likely contained harsh metals and chemicals. It is possible that the inhabitants of this town aren’t aware of these dangers, yet they live among this waste that is dumped there from various companies. These living conditions are inhumane and hazardous to the health of these people.
Stephenson, J.B. 2008. Electronic Waste: Harmful U.S. exports flow virtually unrestricted because of minimal EPA enforcement and narrow regulation. United States Government Accountability Office, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d081166t.pdf (accessed October 28, 2010)
The Government of Canada disposes of a broad range of electronic and electrical equipment. For the 2011-2012 fiscal year, federal government spending in this area was estimated to be $1.2B and included computer, laboratory, medical, security, telecom, audio-visual, and office equipment [1]. A list of e-waste is provided in Annex 1 and Annex 2. Environment Canada reports that volumes of e-waste are increasing by 4% annually across the country [2]. It is now almost
Every year a huge amount of garbage is being thrown away, when it should be recycled. The Environmental Protection Agency estimated that 75% percent of American waste is recyclable (EPA, 2015). However, the United States only recycles 30% of its waste (EPA,
he challenge of waste disposal has becoming increasingly difficult since the industrial revolution. With increasing population, urbanization, and prosperity, modern society engages in mass production and mass consumption. As a result there is considerable waste generated which has far reaching affects. Many nations are examining options to lessen the amount of waste generated, and how to manage that waste.
Unlike general municipal waste, e-waste has a mixture of hazardous and valuable materials which will be harmful to the environ...
Computers, information and communication technologies equipment, TVs, refrigerators and washing machines drive the growth of e-waste recycling industry in India.
Improper practices of waste disposal occur on a daily basis leading to sickness, pollution, and chemical exposure. These daily disposals of hazardous waste have led to pollution and the endangerment of sanitation workers, wild life and the rest of the population. A part of the problem is many people dispose of these common household items without even knowing they are doing is wrong and detrimental to themselves and their surroundings. Many consumers just simply toss their items in the garba...
Treatment of E waste encourages primarily reuse of whole equipment if possible , remanufacturing and upgrades otherwise rcovery via recycling and when there is no other choice left incineration and ladfill . Although lafill of electronic waste causes leaching of ground water and incineration of eletronic waste leads to toxic fumes in air as circuit boads contains lead , antimony oxides .
America and Europe are at the top of the list for most waste generated according to Waste (4). This is very visible because there’s litter on every street in the towns and cities, as well in lakes, beaches, and rivers. The book Waste by Rob Bowden states that the amount of waste produced is increasing at a rate faster than population growth. About 1.5 million computers, in the U.K, are thrown away each year and most end up in landfills. There are 3 types of waste which are Municipal Solid Waste, Industrial Waste, and Hazardous waste. MSW includes waste from public garbage cans and local dumpsters. Industrial Waste includes massive amounts of waste water that is contaminated with chemicals. Hazardous waste is the most dangerous as it presents a danger to human health and the environment. Solutions for waste disposal take time because people need to consider their lifestyle and limit the amount of waste they generate. A good start is to recycle items such as paper, cans, plastic, and clothes. This way they don’t end up in landfills, beaches, or streets. Another solution is to join organizations that go around places to recycle, or organizations that demand the reduction in the amount of products that are being
The United States produces “about 8.25 billion tons of solid wastes each year” (Russell 1). People do not realize the impact they have on our planet and environment. When people throw anything in the trashcan, they are contributing to the destruction of our planet. The number landfills in the United States are decreasing, but the amount and volume of waste being thrown into the new landfills is increasing (Russell 4). Because of this escalating amount of garbage, Methane which contributes to global warming is an outcome of these landfills (Russell 7). As a result, our planet is suffering because of this epidemic. The garbage being put in the landfills could be recycled, but not enough businesses, ...
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (2008), an American produces 250 million tons of garbage per year (para.2). There are different circumstances that are based on the society, environmental conditions, occupation and size of each of the different families. As Richmond (2010) stated, if no administration organizations has the responsibility or resources to concentrate their efforts on the waste disposal, then the responsibility to do that is on the nongovernmental organizations and ordinary people (para.... ... middle of paper ... ...