E-waste scratch

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RD E-waste

There are a lot of definitions of e-waste. Here are some: 

Reference                     Definition
EU WEEE Directive (EU, 2002a) Electrical or electronic equipment which is waste. . . including all
                              components, sub-assemblies and consumables, which are part of the
                              product at the time of discarding. Directive 75/442/EEC, Article 1(a)
                              defines waste as any substance or object which the holder disposes
                              of or is required to dispose of pursuant to the provisions of national law
                              in force
Basel Action Network          E-waste encompasses a broad and growing range of electronic devices
 (Puckett and Smith, 2002)    ranging from large household devices such as refrigerators, air
                              conditioners, cell phones, personal stereos, and consumer electronics
                              to computers which have been discarded by their users.
OECD (2001)                   Any appliance using an electric power supply that has reached its end-
                              of-life
SINHA (2004)                  An electrically powered appliance that no longer satisfies the current
                              owner for its original purpose.
StEP (2005)                   E-waste refers to . . .the reverse supply chain which collects products
                              no longer desired by a given consumer and refurbishes for other
                              consumers, recycles, or otherwise processes wastes.

Free Geek's definition: Cast-off computers and other electronics, usually headed for the landfill or other unfortunate fates.


These varying definitions probably contribute to the significant change in figures from source to source.


E-waste is bad because it can end up in or sent to developing countries (or it is already generated in a developing country) where they will be regarded with little thought to their hazard (not all the time, but a lot). e.g. West Africa, China, India. China does some good stuff. Africa resells some stuff. I don't know about India.


Hazards are: (make list)


Solutions are: Free Geek, BAN, government


HOLY CRAP there is so much out there.

Gritty

Generation of E-Waste

  • Cumulatively, about 500 million PCs reached the end of their service lives between 1994 and 2003. 500 million PCs contain approximately 2,872,000 t of plastics, 718,000 t of lead, 1363 t of cadmium and 287 t of mercury (Puckett and Smith, 2002)
  • This fast growing waste stream is accelerating because the global market for PCs is far from saturation and the average lifespan of a PC is decreasing rapidly — for instance for CPUs from 4–6 years in 1997 to 2 years in 2005 (Culver, 2005).
  • 60.2% metals, 15.21% plastics, 4.97% metal-plastic mixture, 1.97% cables, 11.87% CRTs & LCDs, 1.71% printed circuit boards, 1.38% other, 2.7% pollutants. [www.empa.ch/plugin/template/empa/*/51486/---/l=2]

Lead

  • CRT Monitors have an average of 4-5 pounds [1] of lead
  • "Computer monitors are different from most computer equipment because of the concentration of lead: 27% of the weight of a CRT monitor is due to its lead content. The threshold for establishing refuse as hazardous waste is the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) of the waste. The EPA guidelines indicate that waste having a TCLP of 5mg/l of lead qualifies as hazardous waste. Color monitors have on average 18.5mg/l of lead—more than 3 Qs times this threshold." [2]
  • If not detected early, children with high levels of lead in their bodies can suffer from:
    • Damage to the brain and nervous system
    • Behavior and learning problems (such as hyperactivity)
    • Slowed growth
    • Hearing problems
    • Headaches
  • Lead is also harmful to adults. Adults can suffer from:
    • Difficulties during pregnancy
    • Other reproductive problems (in both men and women)
    • High blood pressure
    • Digestive problems
    • Nerve disorders
    • Memory and concentration problems
    • Muscle and joint pain [3]

PBDE

  • In 2003 soil samples in near an e-waste recycling facility in Guiyu, Guangdong, China were tested for PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), which are hazardous flame retardants with a "high bioaccumulation potential". [4] "There is growing evidence that indicates these chemicals may possess liver toxicity, thyroid toxicity, and neurodevelopmental toxicity." [5] They found 0.26–824 ng/g (dry weight) of PBDE/soil.

Legal

U.S.

  • In the United States, nonresidential consumers with large quantities of used monitors are subject to federal regulations for managing this equipment as hazardous wastes under the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA; 42 U.S.C. 6901) Businesses that use small quantities of CRTs and residential CRT owners are exempt from these requirements.
  • In addition to RCRA, commercial and industrial generators of electronic waste also must be concerned with the liability provisions in the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA; 42 U.S.C. 9601), which addresses the release of hazardous materials and the future remediation of toxic waste sites. The desire to avoid future liability has led a few commercial organizations to develop alternative methods—such as leasing agreements—for shifting the responsibility for managing EOL electronic equipment back to the manufacturers.
  • In Florida, CRTs are designated as hazardous waste and subject to strict regulations on storage and transport if they are landfilled or incinerated but not if they are recycled or used to make other commercial products. In Massachusetts, the Department of Environmental Protection banned the disposal of CRTs from its landfills and incinerators beginning in April 2000 and established CRT collection and recycling programs (Northeast Recycling Council, 2001). Under these programs, several communities received grants to fund the initial year of a local recycling program. In January 2001, the state also received authorization from EPA to exempt intact CRTs destined for reuse or recycling from hazardous waste regulations (for extensive discussion, see Federal Register, 2000). California banned televisions and computer monitors from landfill disposal in 2001 and in 2002, California state legislators proposed new policies to promote recycling and recovery of e-waste ( Totten and Glenn, 2002).
  • In 2002, the US EPA issued a proposed regulation to remove existing barriers to CRT recycling by exempting CRTs destined for glass-to-glass recycling from hazardous waste regulations under RCRA.

Europe

  • The European Parliament introduced two directives related to electronic waste in 2000 that are expected to receive final approval in the spring 2003. The first—The Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment—aims to reduce the generation of and encourage the reuse and recycling of electronic waste ( European Commission, 2000). The directive requires that 60–80% of electronic equipment be recovered and recycled by manufacturers by the end of 2005.
  • The second—The Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment—aims to minimize the risks and environmental impact of the treatment and disposal of electronic waste (European Commission, 2000). This second directive will phase out the use of hazardous substances—lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and poly brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)—in electronic products by 2006.[6]

References

  • Rolf Widmera, Heidi Oswald-Krapf, Deepali Sinha-Khetriwalb, Max Schnellmannc, Heinz Bonia, "Global perspectives on e-waste," Environmental Impact Assessment Review 25, 2005, Pages 436 – 458
  • Michael J. Meyer, Waleed Abu El Ella, Ronald M. Young, "Disposal of Old Computer Equipment: A Mounting Environmental Problem," The CPA Journal, July 2004
  • Dongli Wang, Zongwei Cai, Guibin Jiang, Anna Leung, Ming H. Wong, Wai Kwok Wong, "Determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in soil and sediment from an electronic waste recycling facility," Chemosphere 60, May 2005, Pages 810-816
  • Kellyn S. Betts, "Bioaccumulative and Toxic Chemicals Rapidly rising PBDE levels in North America," Science News, December 7, 2001
  • Molly Macauley, Karen Palmer and Jhih-Shyang Shih, "Dealing with electronic waste: modeling the costs and environmental benefits of computer monitor disposal," Journal of Environmental Management68, Issue 1, May 2003, Pages 13-22.
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