Why We Should Recycle eWaste
eWASA (EPR Waste Association of South Africa)
EPR PRO for EEE, Lighting & Packaging Sectors. Environmentally Sound e-Waste Management
Every day, truckloads of old batteries, lightbulbs, computers, and other electronics end up in landfills, where they will stay for hundreds of years. This e-waste is a soup of environmental pollutants that can harm plants, animals, and people.
Despite warnings from the United Nations and the WHO on the dangers of improper e-waste management, many people still do not recognise it as a legitimate threat. Countless reports have found the global north guilty of illegal e-waste dumping in Asia and Africa, leaving developing nations to manage the mess.
Allowing e-waste to pile up in open dump sites or landfills can have dire environmental, social, and economic effects.
E-Waste Can Contaminate Food Systems
When it rains, water leaches through landfills, collecting debris and scattering it throughout the surrounding soil. If there is e-waste in the mix, that leachate could contain mercury, lead, and other toxic metals that change the pH levels of the soil and contaminate the groundwater over time.
Many studies have shown that heavy metals can upset micro-ecosystems in the soil, which in turn affects plants and the animals that eat them. Eventually, acidic groundwater could reach nearby farmland, polluting the ground and allowing metals to find their way into our food.
Contaminated run-off from landfills containing e-waste can also mix with surface water, ending up in rivers, dams, and finally, the ocean. This process introduces new minerals into the water, which can cause algal bloom, upset aquatic ecosystems, and harm bird and animal life.
Additionally, e-waste includes large amounts of plastic, which breaks down into microplastics in landfills and dumpsites. These tiny plastic particles are lightweight and easily transported through water systems, polluting the soil and releasing petrochemicals into the environment. Animals accidentally consuming microplastics allow toxic chemicals to make their way up the food chain.
E-Waste Can be a Health Hazard
Many developing countries are home to thriving informal e-waste recycling systems. Reclaimers in these regions collect and dismantle broken or outdated electronics and appliances to retrieve the valuable gold, silver, copper, and other metals inside them. These “urban mines” help low-income households make a living by selling scrap to local buy-back centres.
Unfortunately, many waste pickers do not wear protective equipment when handling the e-waste, inadvertently exposing themselves to toxic pollutants like mercury or lead. In some countries, it is common to burn or submerge waste in acid baths to extract the metals, releasing poisonous fumes into the air.
According to the WHO, approximately 18 million children and adolescents are working in the informal waste sector. Picking through e-waste exposes them to over 1 000 harmful chemicals that can stunt their neurological development, damage their lungs, cause respiratory diseases and increase their chances of developing cancer later in life.
These unregulated e-waste processing sites also attract expectant mothers looking for ways to provide for their families. Pregnant women are especially susceptible to heavy metal poisoning, which can cause stillbirths, miscarriages, and DNA mutations in their unborn children.
Bad e-Waste Management Depletes Non-Renewable Resources
Analysts estimate that up to 7% of the world’s gold[1] is currently lying in landfills in the form of e-waste. Electronics also contain silver, platinum, nickel, lithium, and cobalt - all of which are non-renewable resources that are expensive to extract from the earth. Mining these and other metals to produce new electronics causes further environmental damage and often comes with social and political consequences.
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What’s more, the cost of virgin materials far outweighs the cost of recycled ones, which may cause dramatic price hikes for electronic equipment over time. If the world’s poorest nations already cannot afford the technology many first-world countries take for granted, soaring prices will only exacerbate the global wealth gap.
Losing raw materials to landfill is not sustainable and will not support the growing tech industry and demand for electric vehicles. We must find more environmentally-friendly ways to manage our discarded electronics to preserve the natural environment and protect human health.
Better Ways to Manage e-Waste
Although e-waste is a complex waste stream made up of many materials, it can be recycled with the right technology. The first step to setting up sustainable e-waste management systems is diverting discarded and end-of-life electronics from landfills. Collecting and processing e-waste in controlled environments means fewer health risks for waste workers and less chance of contaminating the soil and groundwater.
Raising awareness and funding for initiatives like the e-Trash Transparency Project and enforcing EPR laws forces the private sector to take accountability for its role in e-waste pollution.
The EPR Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA) is a registered producer responsibility organisation for the electrical and electronics equipment (EEE), lighting, and paper and packaging industries. We assist producers in fulfilling their EPR obligations by implementing take-back schemes that divert recyclable materials away from landfills - contact us for more information.
SOURCES
[1] ttps://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_A_New_Circular_Vision_for_Electronics.pdf