E-waste: A nightmare.by | 11-05-2013 14:53 |
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 We all are crazy after the best in the market. When we replace our old cellphones with the latest ones, ever wondered what happens to the old phones? The answer isn't pretty. . 20 to 50 million metric tons of e-waste are disposed worldwide every year. . In far-flung, mostly impoverished places like Agbogbloshie, Ghana Delhi, India and Guiyu, China, children pile e-waste into giant mountains and burn it so they can extract the metals — copper wires, gold and silver threads — inside, which they sell to recycling merchants for only a few dollars. In India, young boys smash computer batteries with mallets to recover cadmium, toxic flecks of which cover their hands and feet as they work. Women spend their days bent over baths of hot lead, 'cooking' circuit boards so they can remove slivers of gold inside. Greenpeace, the Basel Action Network and others have posted YouTube videos of young children inhaling the smoke that rises from burned phone casings as they identify and separate different kinds of plastics for recyclers. It is hard to imagine that good health is a by-product of their unregulated industry.
. Indeed, most scientists agree that exposure poses serious health risks, especially to pregnant women and children. The World Health Organization reports that even a low level of exposure to lead, cadmium and mercury (all of which can be found in old phones) can cause irreversible neurological damage and threaten the development of a child.. . As consumers we need to demand better end-of-life options for our high-tech trash if manufacturers and government fall down on the job, we who own cellphones, should press for safe recycling. . In the absence of government regulation or industry initiative, consumers could play a role in determining what happens to products that have outlived their usefulness. Most phones and small electronics are designed with obsolescence in mind. But what if we held on to our gadgets longer and repaired, rather than replaced them? We could recycle the ones we no longer use through certified recycling services like e-Stewards, a nonprofit organization that runs certification programs for e-waste recyclers, ensuring that goods are not improperly exported. Government or consumer pressure on manufacturers to design electronics with end-of-product-life issues in mind could be enormously helpful. |
