What a Waste!  What to do with E-Waste. Send it Abroad?

A proposal under debate in the US Congress to ban the export of electronics waste would likely make a growing global environmental problem even worse, say authors of an article from the journal Environmental Science and Technology appearing online earlier this month. For an Australian viewpoint, we asked Brett Hyde of Buyequip, organiser of the Business eWaste Recyclathon in Brisbane 29 April.

Comments from Brett Hyde, Buyequip:

Buyequip do not support crude recycling methods nor condone the export eWaste to backyard recyclers. Our business only deals with accredited recyclers who can provide birth to grave tracking of the IT equipment in the recycling process.

Buyequip do, however, see the need for the export of some forms of eWaste. There are advanced recycling processing facilities throughout the world and are not yet available in Australia. Buyequip, for example, export motherboard and hard drives to a licensed global company that have a closed-loop processing plant in Singapore.

Despite the fact that there is much media attributed to the developing world being a dumping ground for the western world, it is important to highlight the social and environmental benefits of exporting working used IT equipment to these regions. Through remarketing IT equipment overseas, Buyequip provide access to technology in areas where new IT equipment is not affordable for a large percentage of the population.

Buyequip regularly export to clients in the Asia-Pacific region, India and Africa. In 2006/2007, Buyequip remarketed ex-corporate computers to the School of Saint Jude in Tanzania. Just recently, Buyequip remarketed computers for the sixth time to Divine Word University in Papua New Guinea.

There are great opportunities afforded to the people of the developing nations through access to technology, not to mention the benefits which result for the development of the nation as a whole.  

Moreover, there are environmental benefits of the reuse IT equipment. Extending the working life of IT equipment diverts the toxic contaminants from general waste streams. It also defers the production of new IT equipment which deplete our future resources of valuable raw materials.

Based on the above, along with the evidence to suggest that eWaste from the western world only forms a small percentage of the total eWaste generated in developing nations, I agree with authors of Environmental Science and Technology article who argue that a global ban on the trade of eWaste will not prevent primitive recycling processes.

Backyard recycling will continue whether eWaste originates within these regions or via export. The proposed alternative offered in this article, “paying backyard recyclers not to recycle”, would tackle the core of the problem as apposed to a bandaid fix by the global trade ban.

More stringent monitoring of import and export eWaste by governments is vital to lessening illegitimate recycling processes – especially given that eWaste is growing exponentially as market demand for new technology continues to increase.

Business eWaste Recyclathon:

It is estimated that more than 1.8million computers and computer products are stored away in an office back room. Does this sound familiar to your business?

 Buyequip is an IT services organisation that specialises in the environmental disposal of eWaste.

On April 29, 2010, we are giving businesses the opportunity to drop off your unwanted eWaste for FREE. Buyequip will collect and recycle the following items – computers, printers, laptops, CRT monitors, LCDs and all computer peripherals.

To participate email marketing@buyequip.com.au with “Business eWaste Recyclathon” in the subject line and provide company, company contact person, phone and email.

When: Thursday April 29, 2010 Time: 9am -3pm Where: Milton Park (Eagle Terrace entrance), Auchenflower, Brisbane

Sponsored by Quest, Brisbane City Council and Westpac Supported by The Printing Office, 1800 Got Junk and Brisbane Inner West Chamber of Commerce

Source: www.buyequip.com.au

TEMPE, Ariz. – A proposal under debate in the U.S. Congress to ban the export of electronics waste would likely make a growing global environmental problem even worse, say authors of an article from the journal Environmental Science and Technology appearing online earlier this month.

The authors call into question conventional thinking that trade bans can prevent “backyard recycling” of electronics waste – primarily old and obsolete computers – in developing countries.

Primitive recycling processes used in these countries are dispersing materials and pollutants that are contaminating air, water and soil.

“Trade bans will become increasingly irrelevant in solving the problem,” says Eric Williams, one of the authors of the article, which offers alternative ways to address the problem.

Williams is an assistant professor at Arizona State University with a joint appointment in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, a part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the School of Sustainability.

Electronics waste – or e-waste – is often exported from the United States and other developed nations to regions in China, India, Thailand and less developed countries where recycling is done in a crude fashion.

To recover copper from e-waste, for instance, wires are pulled out, piled up and burned to remove insulation covering the copper. This emits dioxins and other pollutants.

Toxic cyanide and acids used to remove gold from circuit boards of junked computers also are released into the environment.

With the number of junked computers expected to triple in the next 15 years, the authors say, the problem will grow much worse if an effective remedy is not put in place in the near future.

The main approach to solving the backyard recycling problem has been to ban trade in e-waste. Some countries have officially banned e-waste imports, but in some cases, as in China, such legislation has pushed the trade to the black market.

Congress is debating House Resolution 2595, which would ban the export of e-waste from the United States.

“The underlying assumption of this bill and other trade bans is that most e-waste comes from outside developing nations, and that stopping trade with developed countries would cut off the supply of e-waste and stop backyard recycling,” Williams says.

But authors of the Environmental Science and Technology article forecast that the developing world will generate more waste computers than the developed countries as soon as 2017, and that by 2025 the developing world will generate twice the amount of waste computers as what will come from developed nations.

“Rapid economic and population growth in developing countries is driving an increase in computer use in these parts of the world that is outpacing the implementation of modern and environment-friendly recycling systems,” Williams says. ” So without action, backyard recycling is certain to increase.”

But he and his co-authors say even a complete global ban on trade in e-waste cannot solve the problem because it covers only a diminishing percentage of the overall supply of e-waste. They argue for direct action to reduce the harmful environmental impacts of backyard recycling.

One proposal is to pay backyard recyclers not to recycle.

“The idea is to let people first repair and reuse equipment, and only intervene to remove materials and components that would be environmentally hazardous when e-waste would be recycled using crude methods,” Williams says. “Such a system looks to be an inexpensive way to maintain jobs in recycling operations and maintain access to used computers while protecting the environment.”

Source: www.engineering.asu.edu