What is Electronic Waste?

Electronic Waste is the improper disposal of electrical products such as microwaves, cells phones, computers, and light bulbs. If you have ever throw away an electrical device you are guilty of having contributed to the electronic waste that is quickly becoming a major issue in our world.

Harm of Electronic Waste

“Roughly 40 million metric tons of electronic waste (e-waste) are produced globally each year…The informal sector's recycling practices magnify health risks. For example, primary and secondary exposure to toxic metals, such as lead, results mainly from open-air burning used to retrieve valuable components such as gold. Combustion from burning e-waste creates fine particulate matter, which is linked to pulmonary and cardiovascular disease” Lucy McAllister says.

Most of these discarded products went to landfills or incinerators instead of recycling facilities, resulting in water and air contamination. Hazardous materials in e-waste, like lead and mercury, can leach out of landfills into groundwater and incinerating the plastics in electronics emits cancer-causing dioxins and furans. The batteries in electronic products, such as laptop batteries, also contain heavy metals that can leak into groundwater supplies once the batteries erode.

That e-waste can harm human health is not a new concept, but researchers wanted to test it in a controlled laboratory setting. So they sampled air in Taizhou, in western China, where every year about 2 million tons of e-waste are dismantled, often crudely, for recycling. An estimated 60,000 people in Taizhou work in scrapping e-waste, and many of them do so without protections like gloves, masks or goggles. Most also live in the area, so they are constantly exposed to the airborne byproducts of e-waste processing.

-Popular Mechanics

Electronic Waste is surely a new, global problem that our generation is facing. Today, in the ever changing technological world, many of our used, unwanted devices are thrown away, only to be forgotten by our minds, but not by nature. Even when we are oceans away from our old devices, they are causing problems for another human being or the environment. Much of the electronic waste from developed countries is sent to underdeveloped countries around the world. With the lack of sanitation and safety hazards in these undeveloped countries. E-Waste is burned, dumped into rivers, and soaked in acid baths. These methods are not only illegal, but detrimental to humans, animals, and the entire country’s population. The chemicals released from improper disposal can stay in the air for vast periods of time, only making the problem more complicated. These chemicals affect fish and other animals when dumped into rivers which can easily destroy a whole country’s food supply. Cancer causing materials such as lead are known to be released into the air during burning and combustion of the electronic waste.