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E­WASTE

WHAT IS E-WASTE?
E-waste is a popular, informal name for electronic products
nearing the end of their "useful life."
Common electronic products include:
• Televisions and Monitors
• Computers
• Computer Peripherals
• Audio/Stereo Equipment
• VCRs
• DVD Players
• Video Cameras
• Telephones
• Fax and Copy Machines
• Cellular Phones
• Wireless Devices
• Video Game Console
DEFINATION :
"Electronic waste" may be defined as all
secondary computers, entertainment
device electronics, mobile phones, and other items such
as TVs and refrigerators, whether sold, donated, or
discarded by their original owners. This definition includes
used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale,
salvage, recycling, or disposal. Others define the reusables
(working and repairable electronics) and secondary scrap
(copper, steel, plastic, etc.) to be "commodities", and reserve
the term "waste" for residue or material which was
represented as working or repairable but which is dumped or
disposed or discarded by the buyer rather than recycled,
including residue from reuse and recycling operations.
Because loads of surplus electronics are frequently
commingled (good, recyclable, and non-recyclable), several
public policy advocates apply the term "e-waste" broadly to
all surplus electronics. The United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) refers to obsolete computers under
the term "hazardous household waste".
Debate continues over the distinction between "commodity"
and "waste" electronics definitions. Some exporters may
deliberately leave difficult-to-spot obsolete or non-working
equipment mixed in loads of working equipment.
Protectionists may broaden the definition of "waste"
electronics. The high value of the computer recycling subset
of electronic waste can help pay the cost of transportation for
a large number of worthless "commodities".
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES :

 Americium: smoke alarms (radioactive source).


 Germanium: 1950s–1960s transistorized electronics
(bipolar junction transistors).
 Mercury: fluorescent tubes (numerous applications), tilt
switches (pinball games, mechanical
doorbells, thermostats). With new technologies arising,
the elimination of mercury in many new-model computers
is taking place.
 Sulfur: lead-acid batteries.
 PCBs: prior to ban, almost all 1930s–1970s equipment,
including capacitors, transformers, wiring insulation,
paints, inks, and flexible sealants.
 Cadmium: light-sensitive resistors, corrosion-resistant
alloys for marine and aviation environments, nickel-
cadmium batteries.
 Lead: old solder, CRT monitor glass, lead-acid batteries,
some formulations of PVC. A typical 15-inch cathode ray
tube may contain 1.5 pounds of lead, but other CRTs have
been estimated as having up to 8 pounds of lead.
 Beryllium oxide: filler in some thermal interface materials
such as thermal grease used on heat
sinks for CPUs and power transistors, magnetrons, X-ray-
transparent ceramic windows, heat transfer fins in vacuum
tubes, and gas lasers.
Generally non-hazardous Substances :

Tin: solder, coatings on component leads.

Copper: copper wire, printed circuit board tracks, component


leads.

Aluminium: nearly all electronic goods using more than a few


watts of power (heat sinks), electrolytic capacitors.

Iron: steel chassis, cases, and fixings.

Silicon: glass, transistors, ICs, printed circuit boards.

Nickel: nickel-cadmium batteries.

Lithium: lithium-ion batteries.

Zinc: plating for steel parts.

Gold: connector plating, primarily in computer equipment.


Some computer components can be reused in assembling
new computer products, while others are reduced to metals
that can be reused in applications as varied as construction,
flatware, and jewelry.
Substances found in large quantities include epoxy
resins, fiberglass, PCBs, PVC, thermosetting
plastics, lead, tin, copper, silicon, beryllium, carbon, iron and
aluminum.
Elements found in small amounts include cadmium, mercury,
and thallium.
EFFECTS :

E-waste has many types of poisons built into it. Some of


these toxic substances are what make the devices safe
when they operate. Cathode-ray-tube televisions and
computer monitors, last-century standbys of home and
office, have enormous amounts of lead built into the glass to
stop stray radiation from escaping. If these old TVs and PCs
are improperly discarded at the dump, they can shatter and
release dangerous amounts of lead into the ground and
eventually into the water table. Extreme care must be taken
to remove the lead from the glass and dispose of it in an
ecologically sound manner.

Semiconductors in computer chips and modern circuitry also


contain many poisons, including gallium arsenide, cadmium,
and beryllium. Mercury is sometimes used in
switches. PVC, a known carcinogen, is used in the plastic
coatings of the wires and cables, and brominated flame
retardants are included in other plastics, such as the outer
casing of processors. If these products are burned, or
fragmented and pulverized into dust—as happens in some
low-tech developing-world recycling operations—they
release highly toxic substances into the atmosphere. If
they’re thrown into landfills and allowed to break down over
time, they release the same poisons into the land and
possibly into the water table.
Lead is toxic to the kidneys, accumulating in the body and
eventually affecting the nervous and reproductive systems.
Children’s mental development can be impaired by low-level
exposure to lead.

When burned, PVC produces dioxins, some of the most


hazardous carcinogens known.

Brominated flame retardants have been linked to fetal


damage and thyroid problems.

Barium produces brain swelling after a short exposure. It


may cause weakness in muscles as well as heart, liver, and
spleen damage.

Hexavalent chromium damages kidneys, the liver,


and DNA. Asthmatic bronchitis has been linked to this
substance.

Mercury is known to harm developing fetuses and is passed


through the mother’s milk to newborns. In adults it can cause
brain and kidney damage.

Beryllium causes acute or chronic beryllium disease, a


deadly ailment affecting the lungs.

Cadmium is a carcinogen and long-term exposure leads to


kidney and bone damage.
Dangerous Exports

Disposing of e-waste is a global concern. While the


developed world has consumed the largest share of the
more than one billion personal computers sold, the less-
developed countries have tended to pay the environmental
price. Cheap labor and lax environmental laws have created
an e-waste trail from the developed world to Asia and Africa,
where many of the digital discards are sent for reprocessing.
Workers often take the computers and their toxic monitors
apart with no protection from such hazardous substances as
lead, cadmium, or beryllium, and that can easily compromise
their health and pollute their land and water. An international
accord known as the Basel Convention has banned the
export of such hazardous waste to poorer countries, but the
practice continues, as pointed out by Chris Carroll
in National Geographic’s January 2008 issue.

According to the Basel Action Network, the recyclers in those


countries reap only about six dollars’ worth of gold and other
material from our unwanted electronics.

Local charity drives in the U.S. often collect old computers


“for Africa” or other far-flung places, on the assumption that
the inhabitants need these modern devices if they’re to
“catch up.” A few of these hand-me-downs arrive in a usable
condition after some refurbishing, but more often the
recipients wind up footing the bill for the disposal of the
West’s well-intentioned handouts.
Due to lower environmental and labor standards, cheap
labor, and the relatively high value of recovered raw
materials in China, Malaysia, India, Kenya, and various
African countries, electronic waste is being sent to these
countries for processing, sometimes illegally. It is commonly
believed that a majority of surplus laptops are routed
to developing nations as "dumping grounds for e-
waste". Because the United States has not ratified the Basel
Convention or its Ban Amendment, and has no domestic
laws forbidding the export of toxic waste, the Basel Action
Network estimates that about 80% of the electronic waste
directed to recycling in the U.S. does not get recycled there
at all, but is put on container ships and sent to countries
such as China.
Such countries utilize methods that are not only more
harmful, but also more wasteful. An expedient and prevalent
method is simply to toss equipment onto an open fire, in
order to melt plastics and to burn away unvaluable metals.
This releases carcinogens and neurotoxins into the air,
contributing to an acrid, lingering smog. These noxious
fumes include dioxins and furans. Bonfire refuse can be
disposed of quickly into drainage ditches or waterways
feeding the ocean or local water supplies.
LEGISLATION ON ELECTRONIC WASTE

More and more states are drafting legislation for the


environment-friendly disposal of electronic waste. States
have begun to address the e-waste problem by taking steps
to ban cathode ray tubes (CRTs) from landfills, imposing fees
to fund recycling programs and having state agencies study
ways to reduce the amount of waste. One model to the e-
waste problem is to impose a fee on new electronic
equipment that is used to fund recycling programs.
Another option to the growth of e-waste is to require
manufacturers to develop and fund programs to collect and
recycle the devices they make. The benefit of this type of
legislation is it makes manufacturers more responsible for
coming up with a solution to the e-waste problem by making
more environmentally friendly products.
RECYCLING :
Today the electronic waste recycling business is in all areas
of the developed world a large and rapidly consolidating
business. Electronic waste processing systems have
matured in recent years, following increased regulatory,
public, and commercial scrutiny, and a commensurate
increase in entrepreneurial interest. Part of this evolution has
involved greater diversion of electronic waste from energy-
intensive downcycling processes (e.g., conventional
recycling), where equipment is reverted to a raw material
form. This diversion is achieved through reuse and
refurbishing. The environmental and social benefits of reuse
include diminished demand for new products and virgin raw
materials (with their own environmental issues); larger
quantities of pure water and electricity for associated
manufacturing; less packaging per unit; availability of
technology to wider swaths of society due to greater
affordability of products; and diminished use of landfills.
Audiovisual components, televisions, VCRs, stereo
equipment, mobile phones, other handheld devices,
and computer components contain valuable elements and
substances suitable for reclamation, including lead, copper,
and gold.
Consumer recycling
Consumer recycling options include donating equipment
directly to organizations in need, sending devices directly
back to their original manufacturers, or getting components
to a convenient recycler or refurbisher.
Donation
Consumer recycling includes a variety of donation options,
such as charities which may offer tax benefits. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency maintains a list of
electronic recycling and donation options for American
consumers. The National Cristina Foundation, Tech Soup
(the Donate Hardware List), the Computer Takeback
Campaign,and the National Technology Recycling Project
provide resources for recycling. However, local recycling
sites that do not process waste products on site, and
consumers that throw electronics in the trash, still contribute
to electronic waste.
Takeback
Individuals looking for environmentally-friendly ways in which
to dispose of electronics can find corporate electronic
takeback and recycling programs across the
country. Corporations nationwide have begun to offer low-
cost to no-cost recycling, open to the public in most cases,
and have opened centers nationally and in some cases
internationally. Such programs frequently offer services to
take back and recycle electronics, including mobile phones,
laptop and desktop computers, digital cameras, and home
and auto electronics. Companies such as
Staples, Toshiba, and Gateway offer takeback programs that
provide monetary incentives for recyclable and/or working
technologies.
Consumer awareness efforts :

 AddressTheMess.com is a Comedy Central pro-social


campaign that seeks to increase awareness of the
dangers of electronic waste and to encourage recycling.
Partners in the effort include Earth911.org,
ECOInternational.com, and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. Many Comedy Central viewers are
early adopters of new electronics, and produce a
commensurate amount of waste that can be directed
towards recycling efforts. The station is also taking steps
to reduce its own environmental impact, in partnership
with NativeEnergy.com, a company that specializes
in renewable energy and carbon offsets.
 The Electronic Take-Back Coalition is a campaign aimed
at protecting human health and limiting environmental
effects where electronics are being produced, used, and
discarded. The ETBC aims to place responsibility for
disposal of technology products on electronic
manufacturers and brand owners, primarily through
community promotions and legal enforcement initiatives. It
provides recommendations for consumer recycling and a
list of recyclers judged environmentally responsible.
 Basel Action Network is uniquely focused on addressing
global environmental injustices and economic inefficiency
of global "toxic trade". It works for human rights and the
environment by preventing disproportionate dumping on a
large scale. It promotes sustainable solutions and
attempts to ban waste trade.

PROCESSING TECHNIQUES :
In developed countries, electronic waste processing usually
first involves dismantling the equipment into various parts
(metal frames, power supplies, circuit boards, plastics), often
by hand.
In an alternative bulk system, a hopper conveys material for
shredding into a sophisticated mechanical separator, with
screening and granulating machines to separate constituent
metal and plastic fractions, which are sold to smelters or
plastics recyclers. Such recycling machinery is enclosed and
employs a dust collection system. Most of the emissions are
caught by scrubbers and screens. Magnets, eddy currents,
and trammel screens are employed to separate glass,
plastic, and ferrous and nonferrous metals, which can then
be further separated at smelter. Leaded glass from CRTs is
reused in car batteries, ammunition, and lead wheel
weights, or sold to foundries as a fluxing agent in processing
raw lead ore. Copper, gold, palladium, silver, and tin are
valuable metals sold to smelters for recycling. Hazardous
smoke and gases are captured, contained, and treated to
mitigate environmental threat. These methods allow for safe
reclamation of all valuable computer construction
materials. Hewlett-Packard product recycling solutions
manager Renee St. Denis describes its process as: "We
move them through giant shredders about 30 feet tall and it
shreds everything into pieces about the size of a quarter.
Once your disk drive is shredded into pieces about this big,
it's hard to get the data off."
An ideal electronic waste recycling plant combines
dismantling for component recovery with increased cost-
effective processing of bulk electronic waste.
CONCLUSIONS :

E-waste is an emerging issue, driven by the rapidly


increasing quantities of complex end-of-life electronic
equipment. The global level of production, consumption and
recycling induces large flows of both toxic and valuable
substances. The international regulations mainly developed
under the Basel Convention, focusing on a global ban for
transboundary movements of e-waste, seem to face
difficulties in being implemented effectively; however, a
conclusive account of the situation and trends is not
yet possible. On a global scale some attempts have been
made to identify past, present and future e-waste streams.
The focus has been laid on quantities and in some cases on
routes and spatial distribution, but a global perspective is still
lacking. The introduction of a comprehensive legal
framework by several OECD countries and
notably by the European Union and its member states is not
only intended to forward elaborate WEEE management
systems but also better product designs. The development
of these legal frameworks is starting to transform
perceptions and production in non-OECD countries. Exports
to the EU are at stake both due the restrictions on hazardous
substances (RoHS Directive) and the required compliance
with the WEEE Directive, foremost due to the financial
implications it brings with it of guaranteeing that all EEE
imported into the EU is recycled. Non-OECD countries are
rapidly becoming major EEE producers and are interested in
closed loop material cycles to access urgently needed raw
materials. At the same time this could offer business
opportunities for labour intensive dismantling and recycling
operations in low income economies.
Although awareness and readiness for implementing
improvements is increasing rapidly, there are
many obstacles to manage end-of-life products safely and
effectively in industrializing countries:
The lack of reliable data poses a challenge to policy makers
wishing to design an e-waste management strategy and to
an industry wishing to make rational investment
decisions. The lack of a safe WEEE recycling infrastructure
in the formal sector and thus reliance on the capacities of the
informal sector may pose severe risks to the environment
and human health. However, collecting and pre-
processing can be handled efficiently by the informal sector
and — at the same time — can offer numerous job
opportunities. The lack of international standards for simple
but efficient WEEE management systems delays their
implementation. As a first step, the collection of dbest
practice examples or dlessons learnt from carefully designed
pilot implementations in industrializing countries would help
to accelerate the mitigation process. Empa’s assessments in
Delhi, Beijing and Johannesburg have revealed deficits and
suggest the following recommendations:
Technology and skills: Support (in)formal SMEs and larger
smelting industries(processing metal, glass and plastic
wastes) through specific training and consultancy
in cleaner technologies and process handling to improve
current e-waste processes byintroducing best affordable
technologies (BAT) and by upgrading and qualifying low-
and medium-skilled labor. Policy and legislation: Support
municipalities and/or provincial governments in the
drafting, the (public) consultation and the implementation of
legislation on e-waste handling by offering advice and
exposure and by testing pilot management schemes.
Business and finance: Support securing economic efficiency
and sustainability of e-waste management systems by
optimizing the value added and improve the effectiveness of
collection and recycling systems (e.g., public–private-
partnerships in setting up buy-back or drop-off centers) and
by designing-in additional funding e.g., advance recycling
fees (ARF). Although each of the assessed countries needs
to develop expertise in all three areas to tackle its potential
e-waste management problems, most countries already
have specific expertise, which can be used and shared. To
optimize learning and maximize the efficiency
of support for implementing improvements, a knowledge
partnership in e-waste management is proposed in the form
of an international WEEE Competence Centre.
Partnerships among developing and developed countries
offer the possibility to develop new models for e-waste
management that will benefit users, manufacturers, and
recyclers in all countries.
NAME : CHANDNDRAKANT NIMBALKAR

STD : F.Y.B.M.S.

ROLL NO. : 40

TOPIC : E-WASTE

SUBJECT : ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

COLLEGE : NIRANJANA MAJITHIA

GUIDED BY : KRUPA MAAN

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