24 April 2008

E-waste—dumping old technology products

By Jim Pinto

There is another side to the environmental mess that we are creating with technology: Accumulating toxic techno-waste.

With accelerating technological change, rapid product obsolescence makes electronic products “disposable” very quickly. These days, technology products are obsolete within a couple of years, and there is a constant push to buy new models. The lifespan of a computer has shrunk from four or five years to about two years. In the U.S., about 50% of computers turned in for recycling are in good, working order.

Electronics, the largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry in the world, aggressively promotes a culture of fast obsolescence and increased consumption. And the environmental consequences are disastrous. E-waste is the fastest growing portion of waste in developed countries, and neither the industry, nor consumers, bear the downstream costs, which consists of disposing the enormous quantities of wastes produced.

E-waste includes computers, monitors, televisions, cell phones, DVDs, VCRs, audio equipment, and video games. What happens to these electronic products when they are abandoned? What about the millions of Ni-Cad batteries?

Estimates have it that by 2010, there may be as many as 1 billion surplus or obsolete computers and monitors. Today, computers are being replaced at a 2:1 rate; in less than five years this ratio will be 1:1. Tens of millions of computers are sold each year; this means for every one purchased, one will become obsolete, destined to become waste.

This enormous waste stream contain billions of pounds of hazardous materials, including lead, mercury, beryllium, cadmium, brominates (flame-retardants), and more than 1,000 different toxic substances harmful to human beings and the environment. If not disposed of properly, these materials are harmful to humans, animals, and the environment. Thrown into landfills, these substances leak and can eventually pollute groundwater.

Discarded electronics most often end up in landfills, instead of being recycled. Toxic materials like lead, cadmium, and mercury, commonly used in technology products, can contaminate the land, water, and air. Many old laptop batteries include cadmium, one of the most toxic chemicals known. Some of these high-tech products are pure poison if not properly disposed of at the end of their useful life.

Many Americans and Europeans think they are helping the environment and neighboring poor countries when they recycle their old computers, televisions, and cell phones. Estimates are that 50-80% of the 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year end up overseas.

But the problems are just being transferred offshore. After some initial use, parts are resold by recyclers, and the rest are burned in illegal dump yards, often near poor, residential areas. Workers in poor countries use hammers, gas burners, and sometimes their bare hands to extract metals, glass, and other recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to increasing tonnage of toxic chemicals.

People often dump old electronics along with municipal waste, which then gets burned releasing toxic and carcinogenic substances into the air. Chemicals such as beryllium, found in computer motherboards, and cadmium, used in chip resistors and semiconductors, are poisonous and could lead to cancer. Chromium in floppy disks, lead in batteries and computer monitors, and mercury in alkaline batteries pose severe health risks.

In the global village, toxic garbage does not go away. Eventually, this will surface as a serious problem. But that is yet another legacy transferring to future generations.

So now, what are you going to do with your old electronics?

Related links:

• Destination of ‘recycled’ electronics may surprise you:
  http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/18/electronics.trash.ap/index.html
• Wiki - Electronic waste:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-waste
• E-Waste: Dark Side of Digital Age:
  http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2003/01/57151

Behind the byline

Jim Pinto is an industry analyst and founder of Action Instruments. You can e-mail him at jim@jimpinto.com or view his writings at www.JimPinto.com. Read the Table of Contents of his book, Pinto’s Points, at www.jimpinto.com/writings/points.html.