E-waste is a term that means unwanted electronic materials such as obsolete computers and cell phones – are the world’s fastest growing waste stream. The 2012 UN report projected that by 2017 global e-waste will increase a further 33% from 49.7 million to 65.4 million tons per annum. 8 E-waste from cell phones in India alone is expected to increase 18-fold by 2020. 3 and 9 The total amount of e-waste produced is exponentially increasing because of multiple factors. Therefore, e-waste become a rapidly growing global problem. Electronic products contain toxic materials, and improper disposal, which may lead to water and air pollution，and also severely damage people’s health. Nowadays, recovery and recycling are the main way to deal with e-waste. However, how to accurately deal with e-waste, which is not a straightforward question, especially in developing countries. Caution must be taken to select electronics recyclers who can certify that their practices ensure worker safety and the prevention of toxic releases to the environment. However, It is estimated that many developed countries exported their the 70-80% of the e-waste to developing countries. In these countries, labor costs are lower and environmental regulations may be lax or not enforced, often resulting in major pollution and health problems in these communities.
I think we need reduce the production of e-waste. Consumer demand and a high obsolescence rate lead to frequent and unnecessary purchases of electronic products, which are the main reason to lead to e-waste produced is sharply increasing. For example, new cell phone models are released at highly regular intervals. Not only do cell phone models evolve, but the accessories, such as chargers, often change with each new model. These new electronic products always attract people change their electronic products and contribute to rapidly rising quantities of e-waste. However, most people are not realize the seriousness of the e-waste problem. For example, some youngster in order to pursues the fashion, they always change new cell phone and laptop. Meanwhile, these people also do not have a good awareness to deal with this old electronic products, which causing significant additions to e-waste. Therefore, enhancing people’s awareness is very important, which can enable more people to realize the seriousness of the e-waste problem. Meanwhile, making more people understand how to correctly deal with and recycle e-waste, which also is a crucial step to reduce e-waste. Moreover, E-waste recycling is necessary but it should be conducted in a safe and standardized manor. The government should enhance monitoring and regulation e-waste recycling, especially for developing countries. Meanwhile, we need active innovation to seek more scientific ways and means to promote environmentally sound disposal and recycling of e-waste.
Nowadays, electronic information technology brought many positive influences for people’s life, which always become an important part for people’s daily life. It cannot be denied that e-waste is a hidden cost for the developments of electronic information technology, which led to serious problem for environment and people’s health. Therefore, we must lay emphasis on this problem, and from yourself, from small start, minimize every possible e-waste.
References:
United Nations University (UNU), Solve the E-waste Problem (StEP), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER). World e-waste map reveals national volumes, international flows. 2013, Accessed 7 May, 2015. https://www.vie.unu.edu/file/get/11505.pdf
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