what
is
e-waste?
electric waste, electronic waste, e-waste???
a definition:
E-waste commonly refers to electric or electronic devices which have reached the end of their life cycle. They might be broken, outdated or otherwise no longer useful and therefore discharged.
In short: if it has a plug or runs on batteries and is broken, it is e-waste
some fast facts:
> Production costs of electric and electronic devices are declining (compare the price of your first cellphone to what you can get one for now)
> Decline in cost means decline in price and shorter economic life circles of electric and electronic devices (because DVD players are getting cheaper, you can replace them more often)
> The combination of these factors means that e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in Southern Africa!
The e-waste problem...
The amount of electronic products discarded globally has skyrocketed recently, with 20-50 million tonnes generated every year. If such a huge figure is hard to imagine, think of it like this - if the estimated amount of e-waste generated every year would be put into containers on a train it would go once around the world!
Electronic waste (e-waste) now makes up five
percent of all municipal solid waste worldwide, nearly the same
amount as all plastic packaging, but it is much more
hazardous!!!
Not only developed countries generate e-waste; Asia discards an
estimated 12 million tonnes each year.
E-waste is now the fastest growing
component of the municipal solid waste stream because
people are upgrading their mobile phones, computers,
televisions, audio equipment and printers more frequently than
ever before. Mobile phones and computers are causing the biggest
problem because they are replaced most often. In Europe e-waste
is increasing at three to five percent a year, almost three
times faster than the total waste stream. Developing countries
are also expected to triple their e-waste production over the
next five years.
So there is a lot of e-waste but why is e-waste hazardous?
Electronic devices are a complex mixture of several hundred materials. A mobile phone, for example, contains 500 to 1000 components. Many of these contain toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium and hazardous chemicals, such as brominated flame retardants. Polluting PVC plastic is also frequently used.
These dangerous substances cause serious pollution and put workers at risk of exposure when the products are produced or disposed of. Of particular concern is the exposure of children and pregnant women to lead and mercury. These metals are highly toxic and can harm children and developing foetuses even at low levels of exposure.
> E-waste contains toxic substances that are harmful to humans and the environment!
Let's look at the nasties in your computer as an example:
|
|
1. Lead in cathode ray tubes and solder 2. Arsenic in older cathode ray tubes 3. Selenium circuit boards as power supply 4. Polybrominated flame retardants in plastic castings, cables and circuit boards. 5. Antimony trioxide as flame retardant. 6. Cadmium in circuit boards and semi-conductors. 7. Chromium in steel as corrosion protection. 8. Cobalt in steel for structure and magnetivity. 9. Mercury in switches and housing. |
This figure from the Texas Senate Research Centre shows the location of contaminants in a standard home computer.
Did you know?
* The average lifespan of computers
in developed countries has dropped from six years in 1997 to just two years in
2005.
* Mobile phones have a lifecycle of less than two years
in developed countries.
* 183 million computers were sold worldwide in 2004 -
11.6 percent more than in 2003.
* 674 million mobile phones were sold worldwide in 2004 -
30 percent more than in 2003.
* By 2010, there will be 716 million new computers in
use. There will be 178 million new computer users in China, 80 million new users
in India.
what
we recycle at ecycle:
If it has a plug / batteries
old computers collecting dust in your garage,
broken TVs, outdated DVD players,
that cellphone you dropped...
w e r e c y c l e i t !
a closer look at what we recycle at ecycle:
We
recycle
small household appliances,
consumer electronics and all forms of computer appliances
and office equipment.
>
Computers
and office equipment:
desktop
PCs, computers, screens, laptops, calculators, printers, copy machines, fax
machines, electric typewriters, servers, modems
TVs, video machines, DVD players, CD players, entertainment systems, speakers, radios, mp3 players, headsets, microphones, remote controls, electric/electronic toys, mobile phones, phones, recharger, power suppliers, answering machines, cameras etc.
>
Small
household appliances:
vacuum
cleaners, toasters, kettles, irons, electric/electronic tools
At ECYCLE we DO NOT RECYCLE:
batteries, light bulbs, any medical equipment or smoke detectors
> TIP: Batteries and light bulbs can be discharged here
© ECYCLE Electronic Recycling (PTY) Ltd. 2009