Electronic Waste - The Looming Danger

What is E-waste??

Let’s say you buy a new smartphone since your old one stopped functioning or maybe a new earphone or keyboard or mouse to replace your old faulty ones. So then, what’d you do with the dysfunctional gadgets, throw it away in a dump or something right? Well, that is not the right way to dispose these things since they are E-wastes. This E-waste we are disposing of may cause some serious damage to our environment. The unfortunate thing here is that many of us are not aware of the potential danger caused by the electronic devices we discard as waste. So, what exactly is this E-waste, how it affects us, and our environment and what is the right way to overcome it??

Today, we live in a technologically flooded and advanced era where a new device say a new smartphone, maybe a new laptop, a new television, or any new gadget is launched each and every day. And they have become quite a part of our daily lives. Once these devices stopped serving their purpose, they become e-waste and we throw them away using improper disposal methods, unknowingly affecting many lives on earth. So, e-waste is basically any electronic device that is unwanted, or faulty, not working, simply put nearing or at the end of their “useful life”. These e-wastes includes every electronic gadget we use in our daily lives.

The Impending Threat

So, what exactly are we doing wrong here, and what distinct these e-wastes from the normal wastes we are disposing?? These electronic gadgets we dispose are merely made of plastic and other things, well disposing plastic wastes is itself not so good for the environment but that’s a debate for another day, so these gadgets they have components that contain Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, Beryllium, etc. etc., so these fancy-sounding words may be good for a chemistry-related rap song but they can quite toxic to the environment if not disposed properly. And throwing them away in a dump is definitely not the right way to dispose them, so now you get where we are making the mistake? Throwing them away is never an option so, what else can you do, you may exchange your faulty product while buying a new one. The company may recycle your old product and that is well and good for the environment, but that’s not what happens every time, most of the time these products you gave while exchanging gets burnt down for extraction of gold from the motherboard and other components, in this burning process many harmful components like hydrocarbon and again many fancy-sounding toxic components get emitted to the environment and may affect other living things and us humans. And so, burning them may give you some small amount of gold but it is not a good practice. 

Almost 20 to 50 million metric tons of e-waste are disposed worldwide every year and  80 to 85% of these electronic devices which we throw away as waste are being discarded in landfills or incinerators and in the process releasing some toxic components into the atmosphere. As we discussed early recycling this e-waste is the best practice, but unfortunately, only 12.5% of e-waste is currently being recycled. E-waste is one of the fastest-growing municipal waste streams which most of us are unaware of.      Let us now break this thing down and see how precisely you contribute to this whole e-waste conundrum,

• 42% --> large household appliances, say your televisions, ACs, refrigerators

• 34% --> from IT communication devices like our keyboard, mouse, printers                  and all sort of input and output devices.

• 14% --> consumer electronics, that’ll be our smartphones, chargers,                              batteries, cables....

• 10% --> the rest comes from other miscellaneous sources.

Our Responsibility

    So, irresponsible and improper disposal of these wastes can cause serious damage not only to our environment but also to our health. The Government has taken several in order to stop these mishappenings, but this change should come from ourselves. Let’s all make our mind that we shouldn’t practice any irresponsible disposal of this e-waste. There are nearly 150 authorized e-waste recycling centers in India, all you got to do is collect your e-waste and bring them to the e-waste collection center near you and they will deliver them to its rightful destiny.       Electronics are an important part of our lives today but the flipside is the e-waste that comes along with it. So, let’s all make sure that we follow proper and responsible practices while disposing them as the consequences of not doing so can be painful.

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