E- Waste and the Importance of Electronic Recycling

E-waste is a popular informal name for electronic products nearing the end of
their useful life. E-waste are considered dangerous as certain components of
some electronic products .Certain materials that are hazardous depending on
their condition and density. The hazardous content of these materials pose a
thread to human health and environment.As a part of B.Ed curriculum we hence
to conduct an Educational Survey for this I selected the topic as E-waste
management. It was a community based survey conducted among 25 houses in
Puthuppally gramapanchayath.

Electronic waste or e-waste is Grey good - computer,

one of the rapidly growing problems
printers, fax machines,
of the world. Electronic waste
scanner etc.
popularly known as e-waste can be
defined as electronic equipment / Why is Electronic Recycling
product that connect with power Important?
plug and batteries which home
become absulate due to : Adva- Rich Source of Raw Materials
ncement in technology, changes in
Internationally only 10-15 percent of
fashion, styles and status. The old
the gold in e-waste is successfully
electronic appliances such as
recovered while the rest is lost .
computers, laptops, TVs, DVD
Ironically, electronic waste contains
players ,mobile phones etc. which
deposit of precious metals estimated
are disposed off by their orginal
to be between 40 to 50 times richer
user come in the category of
than ores mined from the earth ,
e-waste. The electronic goods are
according to the united nations.
classified under these major heads ,
Solid Waste Management
White goods - House hold
Because the explosion of growth in
appliances
the electronics, industry, combined
Brown goods - TV s , camera with short product life cycle has led
to a rapid escalation in the
generation of solid waste.
Toxic Materials
Because old electronic devices
contain toxic substances such as
lead, mercury , cadmium and
chromium proper processing is
essential to ensure that these
materials are not released in to the
environment. They may also contain
other heavy metals and potentially
toxic chemical flame retardants.
International Movement of
Hazardous Waste
The uncontrolled movement of e-
waste to countries where cheap
labour and primitive approaches to
recycling have resulted in health
risks to local residents emposed to
the release of toxins continues to an
issue of concern.
How can Consumers Recycle
their Old Electronics Devices
Consumers have access to a
number of recycling opportunities,
depending upon where they live .
Thinking in terms of the electronics
recycling hierarchy ,the best choice
is to denote computer equipment
that can be refurbished or reused as
it , provided that personal inform-
ation is scrubbed from devices.
Other recycling opportunities
include authorized electronics
recycler locations, electronics
recycling events, or corporate take
back programs such as those offered
by Best Buy. Additionally , other
programs are available to help
consumers with the recycling of cell
phones and batteries .
Electronics Recycling
Associations
ISRI (the Institute of Recycling
Industries)
ISRI is the largest recycling industry
association with 1600 member
compines of which 350 companies
are e-waste recycles.
CAER (Coalition for American
Electronic Recycling)
CAER is another leading e-waste
recycling industry association in
the U.S with over 130 member
companies operating around 300
e-waste recycling facilities
altogether throughout the country.
EERA (European Electronics
Recyclers Association)
EERA is the leading e-waste
recycling industry association in
Europe.
Conclusion
The hazardous nature of e-
waste is one of the rapidly growing
environmental problems of the
world. The ever increasing amount
of e-waste associated with the lack
of awareness and appropriate skill is
deepening the problem. A large From this survey it is
number of workers are involved in concluded that out of 25 houses
crude dismantling of these electronic about 15 of them have no awareness
items for their livelihood and their about electronic waste and problem
health is at risk. I conducted the caused by e-waste.Due to the lack of
survey among 25 houses we could proper awareness about electronic
realise that most of the public sold waste,they were not bothered about
their old equipment (e- waste) to the the rapid growth of e-waste.
junk shops and the electronic Television, mobile phone,
appliances which can be recycled refrigerator are the e-appliances
are also thrown to the junk shop as mostly used by the people .The
an e-waste. electronic waste produced by these
three electronic equipments create
Public brought second hand e- health as well as enviornmental
appliances which leads to the rapid problems .
growth of e-waste . Through this
survey we could create an awareness
about the harmful effects produced
by e-waste than other waste. The
improper management of e-waste
leads to hazardous impact to
environment as well as mankind.