How Does Electronic Recycling Work?

How E-waste Works 

If you don't want to damage the environment, are you supposed to transform your storage closet into an electronics graveyard? Never fear, the slow but steady mechanisms of social consciousness have been grinding at this one for a while now, and movement is starting to happen. Input about e-waste regulations are coming from a number of fronts, including grassroots organizations, governing bodies and industrial leaders.

Many organizations have recognized the potential for e-waste dangers for years. However, the issue recently came to the forefront of media in 2002, when Basel Action Network's (BAN) documentary "Exporting Harm" was released. BAN works to reduce the harmful effects of exporting e-waste and promotes sustainable solutions to worldwide waste issues. So-called recyclers and scrap brokers were buying e-waste from developed regions throughout the world and dumping it in developing nations. In some parts of these countries, people were dismantling electronics on street corners, instead of in recycling facilities.

Picture something like this: Mountains of discarded TVs and computer monitors tower above the rutted streets of a low-income urban community. In order to make a living, hundreds of people work in the shadow of this heap of e-waste. Some people tend fires which burn and remove the plastic from copper wires, putting out billows of noxious smoke. Other workers swirl circuit boards in tubs of nitric and hydrochloric acid to release the solder and precious metals -- at the same time releasing gas that stings their eyes. Plastic chips, obtained from smashing devices like keyboards and computer casings, are broken into tiny pieces and carefully sorted before they too are burned and melted together into a sellable chunk. And at the end of the day, all the byproducts that have no further useful purposes, like charred circuit boards and used acid compounds, usually are dumped in open fields and rivers or are burned.

These are a few examples of the recycling processes that still occur on a daily basis in some developing regions. But, as mentioned earlier, many countries are passing new laws to try to halt the process and fix the problem.

For example, the European Union has a series of directives and regulations aimed to increase the recovery, reuse and recycling of e-waste and put the burden of recycling on the manufacturer. The hope is that this will decrease e-waste and e-waste exports, and encourage manufacturers to create new, greener products. Ideally, these products would be safer and easier to upgrade, fix and recycle. The EU has also increased the regulations on different substances common in e-waste, limited the use of these substances in member countries and banned the exportation of hazardous waste.

Think back ­for a minute at the procession of computers, TVs, cell phones, radios, game consoles and music players that have passed through your hands over the years. What about the endless stream of products such as vacuum cleaners, microwaves, hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, alarm clocks, lamps, lawn mowers and smoke detectors that have come in and out of your life?

These are just a few examples of devices that are part of the growing phenomenon known as e-waste.  E-waste is the term used to describe discarded electronics and electrical products. In the past few decades, the world's demand for gadgetry has gone through the roof and, inevitably, more waste has started to accumulate. As the bustling economies of China and India modernize and follow more Western trends, the worldwide generation of e-waste has hit astronomical proportions.

So what happens to all that e-waste? E-waste contains a bonanza of toxic and hazardous components that, for the most part, are currently being shunted into landfills. Much of the remaining portion is exported to developing nations, where many laborers, working under unsafe, unregulated conditions, recycle this e-waste. The work these laborers do, while it does provide some raw materials that can be reused, comes with some serious consequences.

At present, we're just beginning to realize how serious those consequences are. Long-term exposure to small doses of toxins is less understood than the effects of those toxins in larger doses. In all likelihood, it's dangerous to spend your days touching fragments of toxic metals like lead and mercury. Common sense implies that inhaling the fumes from flame-retardant chemicals and highly corrosive acids isn't a good idea. And dumping byproducts of this recycling process into drinking-water sources can't be good for anyone.

The upshot is people have begun taking notice of these conditions, and several initiatives to protect the environment and human health have gained traction recently. Governments from around the world are passing regulations to curtail e-waste, and an increasing number of industrial improvements pop up every day.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle E-waste

Motivated to start sending your old electronic devices and electrical household products to a good home?

First, check to see if your device's manufacturer will take the product back. Take-back programs are slowly expanding, and many companies allow customers to return at least some computer models and equipment when they no longer want them. Apple, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Sony and Toshiba are some of the companies that take back some of your old electronic devices. You may be charged a small fee to return your computer and, as the saying goes, other rules and restrictions may apply. Some companies will take back any brand of electronics; others will accept their products only. From there, your e-waste may be completely recycled by the manufacturer or refurbished for future use.

Another option is to recycle e-waste by taking your old electronics and electrical junk to a legitimate e-waste recycler who practices on-site recycling. The process typically uses an expensive recycling machine, which is fairly common in Europe but less so in the U.S. The machine smashes the electronics and takes them down a conveyor belt. The process uses vibrating screens and magnetic fields to extract different elements. Another common way involves workers (wearing proper protective gear) in a disassembly line, who take apart the electronics piece by piece and sort the contents. Then, different machines break the various pieces down to the point where they can be reused. Again, you might be asked to pay a small fee depending on what you bring in.

Don't let your storage closets and garages become electronic burial grounds. Visit the links on the next page for more information about e-waste and legitimate recycling.

Visit Us : @ Hyperjet