Commentary - Journal of Environmental Waste Management and Recycling (2021) Volume 4, Issue 2

Globally growing e-waste

Asees Kaur^*

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, India

Corresponding Author:

Asees Kaur
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Lovely Professional University
India
E-mail: aseeskaurmavi20@gmail.com

Accepted date: March 14, 2021

Citation: Kaur S.Globally growing e-waste.Environ Waste Management Recycling 2021;4(2):1

Abstract

With time the demand of electronics in the market is striking this has led to an increased production of electronics and a shortage of the raw materials. Here is where the recycled e-waste is used. If recycled and used properly the problem of raw material shortage can easily be resolved, but this approach is not being followed. The recycling process of e-waste is going on, but the ratio of e-waste generated and e-waste recycled has large variations. In 2016, only 20% of the e-waste was recycled and valuable elements were reclaimed, the rest of the waste leached into the water bodies which caused their contamination as they were discarded into the landfills.

Commentary

With time the demand of electronics in the market is striking this has led to an increased production of electronics and a shortage of the raw materials. Here is where the recycled e-waste is used [1-4]. If recycled and used properly the problem of raw material shortage can easily be resolved, but this approach is not being followed. The recycling process of e-waste is going on, but the ratio of e-waste generated and e-waste recycled has large variations. In 2016, only 20% of the e-waste was recycled and valuable elements were reclaimed, the rest of the waste leached into the water bodies which caused their contamination as they were discarded into the landfills [5].

Both formal and in-formal practices are followed for recycling of e-waste. The main difference between both the processes is that in the formal process all the steps are followed in proper work places and the workers have sufficient knowledge of the process on the other hand in-formal practice involves workers with insufficient knowledge and an improper workplace [6]. Formal recycling consists of four processes:

• Disassembling
• Separating
• Categorizing
• Cleaning

Also proper rules and regulations are followed while the recycling processes, keeping in mind the safety of the workers as they are working with hazardous substances. Pollution control technologies are used to reduce the environmental hazards of handling e-waste [7]. All these process involved lead to hike in cost of the overall process, which become a reason for various companies to export the waste to developing countries such as Inida, Nigeria, Ghana and Philippines for cheaper cost of processing.

On the other hand the informal way of recycling involves the burning of the e-waste and collecting of valuable elements only. The gases emitted while burning of the e-waste consists of various dangerous chemical which on inhalation can cause various diseased conditions in the individuals such as spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, premature births, congenital malformations, improper thyroid function, increased lead levels, decreased lung function alongside these fumes defile the soil and air [8].

One major drawback of informal recycling is, the waste is just burned and does not involve any pre wiping process in which the data is cleaned from the devices. Thus this leads the criminals for search of financial information of people from the dumped e-waste [9].

With the rise in e-waste production recycling cannot be the only option for its recycling various other methodologies and techniques are been designed to tackle the situation such as designing of safer, durable, repairable and recyclable electronic products. The companies should not only take responsibility of the production and marketing of the product but also its disposal which is termed as extended producer responsibility [10]. Various recycling machines are installed which pay the person for the disposal of their old electronics. But the best way to reduce all this is to restrain yourself for buying the latest electronic in the market unless and until you are really in the need of it.

References

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5. Wang Z, Zhang B, Guan D. Take responsibility for electronic-waste disposal. Nature News. 2016;536:23.
6. Brune MN, Goldizen FC, Neira M, et al. Health effects of exposure to e-waste. The Lancet. 2013;1:e70.
7. Zero waste home
8. Leung AO, Aydin NS, Cheung KC, et al. Heavy metals concentrations of surface dust from e-waste recycling and its human health implications in southeast China. Environ sci technol. 2008;42:2674-80.
9. The waste management and recycling blog
10. Shevchenko T, Laitala K, Danko Y. Understanding consumer e-waste recycling behavior: introducing a new economic incentive to increase the collection rates. Sustainability. 2019;11:2656.