E-Waste

While the advances made in technology are making all sectors self sufficient today, we should keep in mind the havoc caused by E-waste.Yes the bane of technology is E-Waste. Every technology, no matter how beneficial it is, has huge side effects on our ecosystem. As there is growing consumption of computers, cell phones, and televisions across the globe, countries need to establish proper recycling programs to deal with all the electronic waste. With developing nations being the major outsourcing hub for the world over there is a growing increase in terms of computer waste. With the advancement in new technologies e-waste have also increased creating environmental issues. Most companies want to dispose of their e-waste responsibly so they seek out electronic recyclers, or an asset recovery company. Unfortunately, all too often these e-waste recyclers are not recyclers at all. If we go against Nature, Nature will also go against us. As most e-wastes contain a good amount of hazardous or non-eco friendly substances, buyers of e-products should be made accountable for recycling of older products, at purchase point. There should be separate bodies to focus on recycling of bought back products and in handling eco-friendly disposal of non-recyclable items. There are many companies that want to dispose off their e-waste responsibly so they take the help of electronics recyclers, or an asset recovery company. But all too often these e-waste recyclers are duping us and dumping the wastes in our oceans and rivers. The effect of pollution is causing havoc on our fragile ecosystem and marine life. We should create mass awareness. A new UN Environment Program (UNEP) report - "Recycling - from E-waste to Resources" identifies the growing problem of e-waste internationally. With growing personal wealth and availability of cheap electronic goods and appliances: two factors combining to produce a culture of disposability previously absent in developing countries. The report identifies China as the now second largest producer of e-waste. With an estimated 2.3 million tons of e-waste generated each year, China trails the US by only 0.7 million tons annually. Can other developing nations be far behind? Even developed nations are lax when it comes to disposing the E-wastes. There have been many instances when the E-Wastes have been dumped on the shores of a poor nation in exchange for money. In developing nations, most electronic waste management is conducted informally, by "trash armies" that manually collect, sort and recycle trash. Many electronics contain hazardous substances which, when treated in "backyard recycling" facilities with open sky incineration, cyanide leaching, and "cooking" of circuit boards, have deleterious effects on personal health, local soil and water supplies. This causes a lot of damage to our population. If humans can invent computers, they can definitely invent a way to dispose it without harm. How many times have we thrown a perfectly working cell phone and bought a new set? How many times companies have changed to laptops and sent the old desktops to heaven knows where? New technologies should give us a more sustainable way of using old devices so that we don't pressurize the ecosystem.