William Woodall: a junior majoring in software engineering, works on some electronics. The constant growth of technology has created a new field of waste that must be addressed. Lindsey Davidson / PHOTO EDITOR
Ever wonder what happened to your Windows 98 PC? What about that old Nokia 3210 cell phone that only had three features–Talk, Phone Book and End? Chances are it was sent to a landfill where it still sits to this day.
With new technology and continual upgrades on the rise, people feel the pressing need to always replace.
But what happens when you upgrade to the new iPod with a brighter screen and an extra 20 GB of memory? Your old iPod suddenly becomes a thing of the past, and it is immediately thrown out, where it will join the ranks of millions of other gadgets alike and become what is known as e-waste.
Dane Grovenstein, a junior in pre-dentistry, normally trashes his electronics, but he hopes to change that one day.
“When I do need to replace my old electronics, I usually just throw them away, but the plan is to change that,” Grovenstein said. “I want to recycle because most of our trash doesn’t degrade. We just throw it in landfills, and it just sits there.”
E-waste, or electronic waste, refers to electronic equipment such as cellular phones, computers, televisions, etc., that have been discarded by the owner. Some e-waste products can be reused or recycled, while others are deemed obsolete.
“We keep all our old cell phones and most of our usable, but outdated electronics just in case our new things break,” said Tom Hess, a junior in wildlife sciences. “We like to keep everything in case of an emergency.”
According to a recent article in Time Magazine, the United States is the world’s top producer of e-waste, and most of it ends up in other countries. The number of landfills in the United States has been on a decrease from about 8,000 in 1988 to approximately 1,700 today.
E-waste makes up a relatively small percentage of all waste types in the United States, 2 percent, but because of the hike in technological renovations, there is more waste now than ever.
“Proliferation of consumer electronics has gotten way ahead of cities and counties’ ability to deal with it,” said Michael Alexander, senior research associate of the National Recycling Coalition in Alexandria, Va.
Each year, millions of tons of waste are exported to other countries and dumped in landfills.
An estimated 70 percent of e-waste ends up in poorer countries, where some of it is processed—the practice of stripping, burning and melting—for its valuable metals.
The unusable materials are dumped into rivers and streams. These practices put locals at risk of inhaling fumes and ingesting poisoned food and water from run-off into soil and groundwater. The toxicity of metals contained inside most electronics such as lead, cadmium and mercury, can lead to major environmental and biological devastations.
Lead, found in cathode ray tubes, which are used to form pictures on television screens, has the ability to live in plants, animals and microorganisms. In the human body, it attacks the central nervous system, causing brain damage, nerve disorders, fertility problems and mental retardation.
Cadmium, found mostly in batteries and circuit mount devices, is transported into the human body through inhalation. And just like lead, cadmium accumulates in the body.
Mercury is the most widespread toxic metal found in e-waste. When in water, mercury is consumed by fish, which in turn is consumed by other wildlife and people.
A case study done in China showed people who live near e-waste sites have higher levels of toxins in their bodies, and it is affecting women’s breast milk and fertility rates.
Michael Zhao, a student in journalism at UC Berkeley, got a first-hand account of the horrid conditions e-waste has caused in China. In his documentary, eDump, Zhao describes how the reddish smoke produced from processing was so strong it burned his eyes. He also describes the respiratory illness children faced.
The U.N. established a treaty that banned the system of sending hazardous wastes to poorer countries, but the United States never signed.
But there are some companies in the United States who are taking measures to help with the problem. The Environmental Protection Agency started a coalition of 26 consumer electronics manufacturers, retailers and service providers to make it easier for the public to recycle old electronics and promote safe recycling.
The nation’s largest retailer of electronic products, Best Buy, is one of the companies in the coalition and has initiated programs to aid in the problem. Located in every store are recycling bins for people to drop off cell phones, batteries and ink cartridges.
Best Buy and Apple, Inc. have taken measures to remove harmful products from their products. They have even expanded to Auburn’s campus. Apple, Inc. is in the process of starting a cell phone recycling initiative.
“Apple is going green, and one of the activities we want to do on campus is ‘Cell Phones for Soldiers,’ which is a nationwide initiative that helps the environment while benefiting soldiers in Iraq at the same time,” says Apple Campus Rep. and Auburn student, Katie Reid. “We want all students to donate old cell phones, and we’ll reward them with an eco-friendly tote bag.”
Auburn University also has an e-waste recycling program. Surplus Property, a University auxiliary service, collects all unusable electronic devices no longer utilized by Auburn employees. Bill Capps, manager of Surplus Property, said recycling is a big part of what they do.
“Everything we receive is sorted, plastics, gold, silver and so forth. A lot of it used to go to landfills, but now we try to conserve as much as we can.”
Recycling isn’t as simple as cans and plastics anymore. It involves a wide variety of gadgets and equipment, which can prove to be detrimental if not handled properly.
The e-waste problem is a big issue and isn’t going to be immediately resolved, but we are on our way. As Capps simply put it, “It’s a lot better today than it was five years ago."
