E-waste! What is it?Anything which has a plug or a battery falls within the term. The electric jug blows. That's e-waste. The old laptop is discarded cos it's too slow. That's e-waste. So it's all electrical and electronic chuckouts. There's lots of it - big and small. It's ugly and nasty. To enlarge an e-waste picture please click it. Research
QuantityAccording to Vicktoria, New Zealand (we're only a small country) produces 98,000 tons of e-waste per year. That's roughly 20.1 kg per statistical person. That startled me and made me think worriedly about e-waste in my neck of the woods. I'm wondering what to do with two Microsoft tablets that have now been superceded. Do I put them in the general waste bin on Tuesday morning? And what about the torch (flashlight) batteries I throw away every few months? Vicktoria Blake said I shouldn't put any of that stuff in general waste because that just gets buldozen into to a landfill. I should phone my local city council or look on their website and find out specifically what to do. Local facilitiesI looked on the Wellington City Council website. Sure enough it had an answer: 'Residents can now drop off their eWaste any day of the year. Recycling your unwanted electronic equipment means that it will be managed and disposed of safely and responsibly, in ways that are not damaging to the health of people or the environment.' And then it told me where to take the stuff. But I was curious. What does 'managed and disposed of safely and responsibly' mean? So I picked up the phone. I got answers, limited perhaps, but answers nonetheless. Metal goes to a firm which sends it off for reprocessing and reusing. Plastic goes into the landfill. There is a collection place for batteries if you can be bothered taking them there. Apparently e-waste facilities similar to these are provided by most local bodies throughout the country. Widely used?How widely are such local facilities used? Blake found in Whangerei that only an estimated 1.8% of Whangarei's e-waste was disposed of through civic e-waste facilities. The other 98% was probably buried in landfills as part of household waste. Why not bury in landfills ?E-waste leaks arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead into the soil. From there it may get into waterways and even, through agriculture, into food. According to Blake other countries are doing better than NZ. She uses the label 'poster child' to describe the EU countries who are managing to divert 49% of their e-waste away from landfills. As yet New Zealand doesn't seem to have become serious enough about the issue. We are doing something but not enough. Perhaps the Blake research will give the government evidence enough to push further. Product stewardshipProduct stewardship is a term being used by those who push for more fundamental action against e-waste. Start at the producer end. The consumer end that we've been looking at, is important but not the best answer. First persuade the big producers away from planned obsolescence - making things so that they wear out or fall behind developments already planned. And second take responsiblity for products when they wear out or fall out of date. Get them back from the purchasers and recyle them or their components. Is that a pipe dream? Can we see Samsung or Apple doing that? Well. small countries like New Zealand may not have much push, but if the governments of big nations and even public opinion groups within those countries took action, perhaps a formidable groundswell could occur a groundswell difficult to ignore. Mining for goldAs I researched the e-waste phenomenon for this post, I discovered that discarded circuit boards, part of e-waste, contain gold and that they are being mined for it. Yes 'mined'!That's the phrase!. Here is Professor Veena Sahajwalla of the University of New South Wales in her 'urban mine' producing gold, silver and copper. She forecasts that within 'a couple of years' the mine will be making a profit. Some New Zelanders are into this. Indeed the government has made grants to innovative companies like Mint in an effort to push along these sorts of development. So if something is wanted because money an be made out of it it won't go into a landfill will it? Contemporary life eh?. Our responseMaybe these thoughts about e-waste might prompt us to think about what we do with our throwouts which have power plugs or batteries. What will we put in the waste bin next week? We might even find a few old circuit boards, get the pliers out and start pulling off the gold. Some people are doing that. ########## John McInnes Friday 22 February 2019 References Professo Sahajwalla Gold in circuit boards a video fun to watch Mint Interview Vicktoria Blake by Jesse Mulligan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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