Throughout the course of history there have been drastic changes in technology. Today, society depends on electronics for everything. This has led to astounding innovations in society. There is a lot of good that comes from the use of these products, but they can also be extremely dangerous to the environment if they are not disposed of properly. The use of different products such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops has skyrocketed in the past two decades. In fact, “the EPA reports that e-waste in the U.S. has more than doubled since the year 2000” (Southeastern Data). Therefore, the government should require manufacturers of consumer electronics products to cover the cost of recycling their products after consumer use. When manufacturers …show more content…
The manufacturer did not force the consumer to buy their product, and in turn the business is not responsible for consumer misbehavior. Although this may be true, the manufacturer should still be responsible for covering the cost of recycling. The manufacturer can’t control if the consumer will properly dispose of their products, but what they can control is covering the cost to do so. Manufacturing companies put these potentially environmentally dangerous products into the market, and the best way to ensure that these electronics are properly disposed of is by covering the …show more content…
However, the majority of these products currently in the marketplace can be refurbished or used for parts before being disposed of. The Environmental Protection Agency reports, “for every million cell phones we recycle, 35 thousand pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered” (EPA). Also, “The recovery and recycling of metals from electronic products is low compared with other end-use products, like automobiles and industrial equipment” (Van Erp). Statistics show that only about 13% of electronics are disposed of properly (Southeastern Data). This number is astonishingly low. If manufacturers were able to increase this to a higher percentage they could reuse a lot of the materials in the returned products. Theoretically, this could offset the cost of recycling. All in all, the government should require manufacturers of consumer electronics products to cover the cost of recycling their products after consumer use. The materials that could be reused from returned devices could potentially offset the cost of recycling. Eventually, more eco-friendly electronics will be put into the market place as a result of the manufacturer’s desire to cut cost. Lastly, when a product is dangerous to the environment when disposed of incorrectly and is put out into the market then the manufacturer should be responsible for the cost of the
Even though electronic waste contributes one percent of waste as discussed earlier, it poses a significant threat to the environment. “RCRA does not, however, cover electronic waste except CRTs, nor does it regulate electronic devices donated for educational or charitable reuse.” The RCRA should implement rules to govern e-waste because e-waste not only affects lives in the United States, It affects everyone globally. E-waste typically finds its ways out of the United States and ends up in developing countries like
Negligience is the major key to be considered. Most businesses only care about profit and neglect the hazard they pose on the environment. The two companies were making so much money that it wouldn’t cost a lot to clean up considering the profit they make. They eventually paid $69million but what about the destiny that has been destroyed because of their negligence. They knew dumping of these chemicals was polluting the local water and causing life threatening health issues but they never cared.
...e are now regulations in place dealing with casings and other equipment (Regulations). If there were more regulations like this, there might be less breaks and les contamination. There might also be less spills or related accidents if there were more regulations on the disposing of these dangerous chemicals. How the chemicals are being disposed of should be monitored (Howells).
The article “Our E-Waste Problem Is Ridiculous, and Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping” by Christina Bonnington explains that our landfills are being filled with unused electronics of yesteryear. In 2011, there were 41.5 million tons of electronic wastes in landfills. In 2016, they projected the number to go up to 93.5 million tons. Specifically, our old products are in landfills now such as, HP computers, computer towers, cell phones, and batteries. The reason for all the waste is the human race is buying the newest electronics and not disposing of their unused and unwanted electronics properly. Also, not all of the unused electronics are recyclable. E-waste has a huge negative effect while in landfills because electronics breakdown and they breakdown
The article, “Our E-Waste Problem is Ridiculous, and Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping,” by Christina Bonnington, focused the process of electronic devices to be recycled, the challenges of recycling electronic waste, and making devices more recyclable. First, Bonnington described the recycling process. Depending on the condition on the product will determine if it will be reused or stripped down to be destroyed. According to the author, having a simpler design makes the reprocessing easier to bare the electronics for turning into materials. Next, the author mentioned the challenges of recycling. One challenge is how electronics are becoming more compact and tougher to strip apart to separate the materials. Conferring to Bonnington, batteries are
...recognized energy star item like a geothermal heat pump they also receive a federal tax credit. In addition, companies like Whole Foods grocery stores offer a credit of twenty five cents per bag if a costumer brings in their own bags. CVS has a similar program, offering its customers one dollar for every four times they do not require a bag for their purchase. These programs encourage the consumer to make a sound environmental choice and rewards them when they do. The same could be accomplished with recycling. Since money is a persuasive motivator for a large percentage of people, offering a financial incentive to recycle would increase the level of participation in recycling programs which would be beneficial for the environment and good for the economy. Using financial incentives as an inducement for recycling benefits not only the consumer but the planet as well.
The United States as a whole have already implemented policies in several states to encourage recycling within businesses and households, which can affect the overall economic state of the economy in regards to money flow and market flow. Various recycling policies will allow us to see what federal law may enforce. For example, in California, various recycling policies have been implemented, one in which the consumer pays more for a product to fund that product’s recycling. You could call it a recycling tax. In 1989 the “Recycled Newsprint ...
The environmental performance of numerous tech companies has been evaluated and since Apple has grown over time, it has received more attention. There has been a frequent campaign against Apple by different environmental organisations such as Greenpeace requesting for the elimination of hardware components that are non-recyclable hardware components, a comprehensive plan that would make the products of Apple not end up in the waste and the removal of toxins from iPhone hardware (Apple Inc. 2016). As much as such campaigns affect the operations of Apple Inc., they are good since they help in the conservation of the environment thus having a good impact on the
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.
The environmental side of this issue is extreme waste. Wendell Berry discusses the fields and rivers he lives by, now trash heaps overflowing with “not only disposable containers, but also with broken toasters, television sets, toys of all kinds, furniture, lamps,” etc. One of the main causes of all this waste is manufacturing companies who smother their products in layers of plastic, paper, and cardboard, which ultimately ends up in a trash heap. However, it is not the manufacturer’s fault alone.
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
Furthermore towards the above, the generally cleanness from the environment could be distorted. Sometimes recycling services may perhaps even let you be familiar with in case your old machine could be fixed or else. This is proficient to avoid the dumping of electronic gadgets that possibly will be
In order to keep up with technology, computers must be replaced every few years. Most people simply throw away their old computers and other electrical parts because they are unaware of the environmental problem arising everyday from the careless disposal of electronics. In order to prevent the destruction of the environment people must be educated in two areas; what is in the computer itself that makes it harmful to the environment, and what are the steps in disposing of technology properly. The first step in prevention is through education. The purpose of this document is to educate the consumer on this importance of this issue and what steps they can take personally to help prevent the problem in the future.
These burdens are amplified as the area is further urbanized; increasing demands for fossilized fuels, food, water, and property for additional urban construction. The impact of industrialization has transformed human life and produced extensive ecological deviations. In order to understand how the environmental impacts of ever expanding industrialized technology might linger to impact our health and that of our environment, we offer facts that should be studied. This paper suggests that extra research be conducted to enhance perception concerning advancing modern technology disadvantageous consequences on the safety of humans and their surrounding environment. Manufacturing of Energy Resources.
The future for these products is also quite often over looked. The components are not made to be detachable, so the different materials cannot be recycled correctly or recycled at all, which leads to landfills and pollution. Every material, from wood to steel to carbon fibre has an environmental story behind it and these can all be reused, however there is quite often not enough thought into this design aspect. These components are not labelled correctly for recycling and the result is a scarred landscape. However recycling these days has now turned into a way of life for us. Bins are now everywhere marked with the unmistakeable ‘three-green-arrow’ (another remarkable graphic design – now playing a huge role in the way we live), which lets members of the public kn...