{"id":375,"date":"2012-09-04T05:45:51","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T09:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ehscsi.com\/?p=375"},"modified":"2017-12-10T23:21:22","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T04:21:22","slug":"managing-electronic-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/04\/managing-electronic-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing Electronic Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Electronic Waste Processing In China.
Photo Credit: Environmental Science & Technology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the last week I have been researching \u00a0electronic waste (e-waste) for a client project. \u00a0During my research I discovered something that is intuitive but probably not often considered, as our society integrates more electronics\u2014smartphones, readers, tablet computers, etc.\u2014the disposal of these materials is of increasing concern. \u00a0One of the most \u00a0 astounding facts I found was presented in a 2011\u00a0TED video by Mike Biddle<\/a> \u201cthe United Nations estimates that there\u2019s about 85 billion pounds<\/strong> a year of electronics waste that gets discarded around the world each and every year.\u201d \u00a0 Unfortunately, very little of this 85 billion pounds of waste is recycled or even processed in an environmental sustainable manner. \u00a0Electronic waste not only includes computers and small electronics, also considered in this category are refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, televisions and DVD players. \u00a0Most of these wastes are generated from homes which, as discussed in Managing Hazardous Waste at Home<\/a>, are not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or most state environmental regulations. \u00a0Local governments typically will dispose of these wastes for constituents in their household hazardous waste programs. \u00a0 The e-waste compliance concern is therefore limited to those companies to which the EPA\u2019s regulations do apply (i.e. manufacturers and businesses that generate these materials). \u00a0EPA does not currently have regulations specific to e-waste, but an e-waste is regulated if it meets the definition of a hazardous waste, for more details on this definition see my article entitled\u00a0What is Hazardous Waste?<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest concern with e-waste is the ongoing practice of shipment to and processing of these wastes in developing countries.\u00a0 In many of these nations waste handling practices are largely unregulated and the associated environmental and potential human health effects have huge implications.\u00a0 Electronic wastes typically contain heavy metals (i.e. lead, copper, thallium, and chromium) and other toxic materials like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polyvinyl chlorides (PVCs)–all known to persist in the environment and contribute to a number of health problems.<\/p>\n

What can we do? \u00a0We can partner with existing initiatives and non-governmental agencies that are providing recycling, repurposing or reuse services, conducting research, or supporting changes in the handling of these wastes.\u00a0 Following are a few organizations \u00a0I found to have ongoing efforts in this area:<\/p>\n

Solve the E-waste Problem (StEP)<\/a>\u00a0an initiative\u00a0of multiple UN organizations that include members from industry, governments, international organizations, NGOs and academia. They tackle sustainable e-waste practices through five task forces: Policy, Redesign, Reuse, Recycle and Capacity Building.<\/p>\n

The Restart Project<\/a>\u00a0designed to\u00a0advance the repair, remaking, and responsible use of electronics. \u00a0Their “idea is to promote positive behaviour change in relation to electronics consumption.”<\/p>\n

The E-Stewards Initiative<\/a> a program by the Basel Action Network, initially created to identify but now also certifies companies that process e-waste using\u00a0sustainable and safe methods. \u00a0One of my favorite features of their website is the ability to search for e-Steward recyclers.<\/p>\n

E-waste may not top the list of priorities when it comes to compliance, however it should top the list of environmental issues that have global impact.<\/p>\n

Do you know of other projects or NGO’s that have ongoing e-waste efforts? \u00a0If so, add them to the list by placing a comment below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last week I have been researching \u00a0electronic waste (e-waste) for a client project. \u00a0During my research I discovered something that is intuitive but probably not often considered, as our society integrates more electronics\u2014smartphones, readers, tablet computers, etc.\u2014the disposal of these materials is of increasing concern. \u00a0One of the most \u00a0 astounding facts I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[112,111,98,89],"class_list":["post-375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trends","tag-e-waste","tag-electronic-waste","tag-sustainability","tag-sustainability-ehs-compliance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions\/756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}