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Electronics Waste Stream
Name: Kamal
Status: Educator
Grade: Other
Location: CA
Country: United States
Date: September 2007
Question:
Dear Sir We are a group of teachers
involved in a course about integrating ICT in
education (ICT means Information and Communication
Technology) and are now working on pollution and
environment protection. What are the effects of
e-waste (electronic garbage) on environment?
Replies:
Hello Kamal,
The effects of electronic components and their enclosures
being dumped into landfills are much the same as any other
garbage, namely introducing potentially toxic substances into
the landfill.
Specifically, there has been concern for "heavy" metals
leaching into the environment. Lead (from tin-lead solder) is
one possible pollutant, although this has often been
exaggerated since the total amount of solder in typical
products like computers, is relatively small. Nickel-Cadmium
batteries such as were used in older laptops is another
concern, since cadmium is toxic. Most plastics cause no real
toxic problem since the ones used in most electronic products
(typically ABS, polycarbonate, polystyrene, etc.) are quite
stable and benign. The main problem with plastics is that
they tend not to degrade but remain unchanged for decades.
CRT monitors can be problematic since their picture tubes
contain some fairly exotic metals, that are exposed when the
tube is smashed. Printed circuit boards (excluding their
components, and the solder that attaches them) are made of an
epoxy resin with fiberglass embedded, both of which cause no
serious hazardous pollution problems other than the sheer
volume of garbage.
The main problem with electronic waste is its volume, and the
fact that since so many different materials are used,
separating them and recycling becomes very difficult and
somewhat impractical.
For the most part, the electronic components themselves cause
relatively little pollution problem, since they are a nearly
insignificant part of the overall volume of waste, and are
typically encapsulated in a robust epoxy resin.
There is presently a European "RoHS" directive now being
implemented in North America that forbids the use of
specified materials in electronic assemblies. This has
resulted, for example, in the need to use more expensive and
more difficult to use "lead-free solder" being required.
Since some 90+% of all lead used yearly is used in lead acid
batteries, which are unrestricted, one has to wonder about
the wisdom of penalizing the electronics industry which only
uses about 2% of yearly lead production.
Regards,
Bob Wilson
Modern electronic devices contain many toxic substances -- especially
metals such as lithium, beryllium, cadmium, mercury, and lead. The sites
below will give you a jump start into developing a lesson plan and/or
activity
http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/toxic-tech-chemicals-in-elec.pdf
http://www.escrapindiana.org/hazards5.html
http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/HazardousWaste/EWaste/
Vince Calder
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Update: June 2012
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