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E-waste: A Growing Health and Environmental Concern E-waste Source TextsModule 3: Problem, Solution, and Evaluation 06910070Figure 1. Little Girl plays at Dumpsite for Electronic Waste in Jombang (Syafi/Greenpeace, 2016).00Figure 1. Little Girl plays at Dumpsite for Electronic Waste in Jombang (Syafi/Greenpeace, 2016).Prompt:In the past few years, the growing demand for technology has led to a massive amount of e-waste. Describe the global problem of e-waste and evaluate the recommended solutions of recycling and refurbishment. Text 1: The Increasing Growth of E-Waste35966401939925Figure 2. New Apple iPads (The Guardian, n.d.). 0Figure 2. New Apple iPads (The Guardian, n.d.). 359727568008500Studies show that there are more mobile phones today than there are people on Earth. The growth rate of these as well as other electronic devices such as tablets and computers is also expanding. This is because the technology industry is one of the most innovative sectors with a significant amount of new developments and inventions. However, as these products reach the end of their useful lives, they are often thrown away. This is a serious problem because the number of discarded electronic products around the world has risen sharply. For example, in 2014, the global estimate of e-waste was 41.8 million tonnes. Research shows that this amount will soon increase to more than 50 millon tonnes. 30600652963545Figure 3. Producers of the largest amounts of e-waste (McCarthy, 2015).00Figure 3. Producers of the largest amounts of e-waste (McCarthy, 2015).3061970101854000According to a United Nation’s initiative, Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP), e-waste is any type of electronic equipment that is discarded as waste without the intention of reuse. Types of e-waste can range from household appliances items such as old refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, stereos, kettles, to items like toys, laptops, and even electric toothbrushes. Regardless of its form, e-waste is now the world’s fastest growing type of waste. For example, China generated 11.1 million tonnes of e-waste in 2012, followed by the US with 10 million tonnes. Although these figures ranked China and the US as the world’s largest producers of e-waste, as figure 3 illustrates, several other countries also created a vast amount of e-waste on a per capita basis. Norwegians had the largest amount of e-waste per inhabitant at 28.3 kilograms of e-waste in 2014 with the Swiss coming next at 26.3 kilograms of e-waste per person. As technological innovation continues to develop, researchers and scientists believe that the alarming amount of e-waste will increase. By 2017, StEP experts predict that the world will produce 33 per cent more e-waste. This means that in 2017, the amount of e-waste will range from 65 to 72 million tonnes. This volume of end-of-life TVs, phones, computers, monitors, e-toys and other products will be enough to fill a 24,000-kilometer line of 40-tonne trucks. Due to the overwhelming amount of e-waste, organizations and governments call for action. Some want more recycling, while others support refurbishing outdated or unwanted electrical items. Others encourage the recovery of materials from e-waste to create new products. Source: Jefferies, D. (2014, April 2). 50 million tonnes of e-waste generated every year. The Guardian. Retrieved from 2: The Recycling and Processing of E-waste E-waste is a significant problem for many reasons. Primarily, this is because every year world consumers produce a massive amount of e-waste. For example, in 2014, the total amount of e-waste on a global scale was 41.8 million tonnes. Each year, the amount of e-waste continues to increase. One of the solutions put forward to reduce e-waste is recycling. A recycling operation that has been successful is E-waste Solutions in Glasgow, Scotland. This organization works in partnership with nine different agencies such as Microsoft to recycle unwanted electronics. Many of their recycling techniques are environmentally friendly and carbon neutral. One of E-waste Solutions’ main goals is to keep as much e-waste as possible from going to landfills and harming the environment. By working carefully with its partners, E-waste Solutions has been able to guarantee a zero-landfill policy and better protect both people and the environment.Although programs like E-waste Solutions are successful, there are still many challenges in recycling e-waste. One of these is that recycling is very expensive. Another is that there are many laws or environmental regulations regarding the processing of e-waste. Consequently, most companies do not recycle. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that only 15-20 per cent of e-waste is recycled in the United States. Because of the costs and laws involved in the recycling of e-waste, most e-waste is shipped for informal recycling to developing countries in Asia and Africa. Unfortunately, recycling e-waste in developing countries has many limitations. This is because these areas have weak environmental laws or lack appropriate equipment for proper waste management. For example, research studies have found that in the African country of Ghana, it is mostly orphans from ages twelve to twenty who handle e-waste. 31337252039620Figure 4. Young boys picking up e-waste (Rubicon Global, n.d.)00Figure 4. Young boys picking up e-waste (Rubicon Global, n.d.)3139440651637000Informal recycling of e-waste is very dangerous. This is because e-waste contains hazardous, toxic materials such as acid, lead, and mercury. Most developing countries do not have the standards or proper equipment to process these chemicals. Touching these objects or breathing in the fumes from burning them is very harmful and can cause numerous health risks. Studies show that workers in the informal sectors who recycle e-waste suffer from breathing problems, headaches, skin damage, heart disease, and cancer. Source: McCarthy, N. (2015, April 20). Which country is on top of the world’s electronic waste mountain? Forbes. Retrieved from 3: Increasing Rates of E-product ReplacementElectronics have always produced waste, but the amount and rate of e-waste disposal has increased rapidly in recent years. For example, in 2014, the amount of e-waste was about 42 million tonnes, and studies predict that within another year, this figure will grow to 33 per cent. One of the reasons for this enormous amount of e-waste is that the electronics industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Every day, there are new technological advances. This leads to a rapid turnover of e-products since consumers want the latest devices. In the past, a family would usually keep a television for more than ten years. But with new technology and consumer demands, most devices are now only owned for a few years. For instance, people in the United States throw away 30 million computers every year. Another problem is the rate at which consumers buy new mobile phones. Studies in the phone industry show that most mobile phone customers buy a new mobile within two years. For example, market research shows that Indians usually buy a new mobile every 18 months. This has led to approximately 16 million unused and unwanted phones in the country of India alone. Other research claims that people usually replace their phones at a much faster rate. Although the working life of a mobile phone is actually seven years, new research says that the average global consumer changes their mobile every 11 months. This rapid turnaround of e-products creates more and more e-waste. Because new electronic devices are invented and replaced so quickly, e-waste simply piles up. Since there is so much of it, most is thrown away or disposed of illegally. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), 90% of the world’s e-waste is dumped illegally every year. UNEP reports that most of this illegal e-waste is dumped in developing countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and China. Unfortunately, as shown in Figure 5, most of these areas do not have the regulations, infrastructure, or facilities to manage it properly. 9277351060450092710042545Figure 5. Young boy burning cables for copper at an e-waste site in Agbogbloshi, Ghana (Souppouris, 2016.)00Figure 5. Young boy burning cables for copper at an e-waste site in Agbogbloshi, Ghana (Souppouris, 2016.)Source: Nichols, W. (2015, May 12). Up to 90% of world’s electronic waste is illegally dumped, says UN. The Guardian. Retrieved from 4: Reducing E-waste through RefurbishmentIn addition to recycling, organizations try to reduce e-waste through refurbishment. Refurbishment is the process in which an item is repaired or improved, so it can be used again. A company with a successful refurbishment plan is the US phone company Sprint. To help reduce e-waste, Sprint has a “buyback” program in which customers sell their old mobiles back to the company for three hundred dollars. Sprint technicians then clean, refurbish, and update the software on the phones so they can be reused. The buyback program has been so successful that Sprint has received an award from the EPA for responsible e-waste management. Another refurbishment initiative that has been successful is in the city of Dubai in the UAE. In 2007, the Dubai Municipality established the PC Refurbishment Centre to fix and update unwanted computers and laptops. By 2011, they had collected more than 10,000 personal computers for refurbishment. After their restoration, the PC Refurbishment Centre donated all the refurbished computers to schools in the Emirates and 20 African countries. 36709351642745Figure 6: E-waste refurbishment at DDRC (Gulf News, n.d.).00Figure 6: E-waste refurbishment at DDRC (Gulf News, n.d.).36709353810000Dubai’s PC Refurbishment Centre is now called the Digital Devices Refurbishment Centre (DDRC), and it works in partnership with Microsoft to refurbish e-waste for charity. Each year, the DDRC refurbishes more e-waste. For example, in 2015, the DDRC fixed a total of 55,000 electronic devices. Of these, 18,300 desktop and laptop computers were refurbished and given to schools. In addition to the computers, another 10,000 items such as printers and scanners were refurbished and given free to aid students and poor people. According to business analyst, Khalid Idris, only 30 per cent of the computers DDRC receives every year are able to be restored and re-gifted to those in need. For instance, of the 179,702 computers donated for refurbishment, only 76,661 were able to be restored and given to schools in the UAE, Africa, and Asia. Although not all e-waste can be restored, Dubai’s DDRC helps reduce the amount of e-waste. Moreover, the initiative creates a way for e-waste refurbishment to encourage people and businesses to donate items for charity and support education. 3665855-127000Source: Baldwin, D. (2016, October 22). How to safely discard your electronic waste. Gulf News. Retrieved from 5: Toxic Substances Found in E-wasteE-waste is a significant global problem because there is so much of it. Moreover, due to constant innovation and new product demand, its volume keeps increasing. But the amount of e-waste is not the only problem. E-waste is very serious issue because it is toxic waste. To make electronic items, manufacturers use metals like lead and copper. A number of harmful chemicals, such as mercury, are also used. There are also many other kinds of toxic materials such as gasses, acids, and plastics. This means that e-waste is full of toxic substances and bio-hazardous materials. In fact, e-waste actually contains more than 1,000 different substances. Some of these are non-hazardous, but many of them are not. Toxic materials are dangerous because they negatively impact the environment and hurt people. Studies show that even recycling e-waste in state-of-the-art facilities increases air pollution. However, most research shows that e-waste is actually not disposed of properly. When e-waste is not handled properly, it not only harms the environment, but also people. The human health risks from e-waste are breathing difficulties like coughing, choking, and asthma. Other illnesses are eye irritation or skin and stomach diseases. Studies have also shown that long-term exposure to e-waste can cause lung cancer and lead to birth defects. 90170491490000139703916680Figure 7. A young Chinese child sitting among cables and e-waste at an e-waste disposal site Guiyu (Greenpeace, n.d.)0Figure 7. A young Chinese child sitting among cables and e-waste at an e-waste disposal site Guiyu (Greenpeace, n.d.)Source: Lundgren, K. (2012). The global impact of e-waste: Addressing the challenge. International Labor Office. Retrieved from ................
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