E-Waste Recycling Program

The ANSI, or American National Standards Institute, is a non-profit that is designed specifically to oversee development of voluntary standards regarding everything from programs to products to personnel throughout the US (ANSI, 2012). The Z10 standard is focused on environmental health and safety, and provides requirements for management systems, along with guidelines that help improve EHS. The Z10 standards encompass many areas of EHS, including financial performance, health and safety, productivity, quality, and similar objectives in business (ANSI, 2012). There are seven section topics in the Z10, and also information for risk assessments that have not been included previously (ANSI,

In the 21st century electronics are used by almost everyone. As people age so does the technology people use. When this technology is outdated or stops working people throw it away in landfills. This technology that is thrown away is known as electronical waste or is also known as e-waste. E-waste is a worldwide problem that has many solutions to solving it, but there is only one truly environmentally friendly solution to solving this epidemic. E-waste is a danger to the environment and the health of others, but can be solved with the proper processes, proper safety, and attention to this problem is needed to stop e-waste.

Environment, health and safety standards guide employees and suppliers in complying with corporate policies. These worldwide standards apply across Xerox and establish specific requirements for products, services, operations, product safety, materials safety, packaging, design for environment and

Unfortunately, the EPA estimates that only 10 percent of e-waste is recycled annually. Even more upsetting, though, are the conditions in which some of these materials are recycled. While some firms operate under strict environmental regulations with adequate protocols to protect workers' health, many do not.

EPA has laid certain rules and regulations for the construction of new landfills, and ensures that these landfills are well-engineered facilities, and constructed according to the federal regulations. EPA has clearly stated the type of material MSW can collect, so that hazardous waste could be separated and discarded by using special techniques. MSW can receive household waste, non-toxic waste, and waste from industries and construction facilities. Several household items like batteries, paints, chemicals, automobile oils, refrigerators, and air conditioners are not allowed to discard as it is in the trash. They are disposed of under special formulations set by EPA, to minimize the effect of their toxic components (US EPA, n.d). Recently US EPA announced two recommendations to minimize the release of methane from landfills.

Electronic waste is one of the rising issues around the world. Electronic waste includes a significant amount material containing dangerous substances that are very unfriendly to humans and the environment. Electronic waste is created through dumping of electronic equipment. Electronic devices are intended to make our lives easier and better, however the dangerous chemicals inside them make life a nightmare. Electronic waste from our houses is mostly taken along with the trash and burned altogether. However, majority of electronic waste is collected altogether and shipped off to a 3rd world country where health and safety regulations aren’t enforced. Majority of electronic users are unconscious of the negative effects that electronic waste brings upon us.

The article “Our E-Waste Problem is Ridiculous, and Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping by Christina Bonnington explains that We use electronics in our everyday life and we are quick to change it as soon as we hear about a new product, but we don’t really think about what happens to of all these discarded gadgets, or how they are being recycled. In the article the author expressed how people want to upgrade their phones almost every year and the number of phones that goes to waste and ends up in landfills. He also stated that phones that were contrived in the past were designed in such a way that it was easy to disassemble. But the new ones now are made so minuscule and more advanced so it’s really callous to disassemble and recycle them. He also

When we throw out our old equipment, old TVs and computers end up in landfills, there are various toxic metals can cause various environmental problems. Yet even recycling the electronic waste, it might not be good to our environment. Have you even thought of how the United States shipping their electronic waste to some developing countries and the problems it may cause? As the United States passed the laws to recycle the electronic wastes, the companies can ship the electronic waste to the so-called recyclers in other countries legally. Recyclers, however, can be the intermediaries only since they can gain a huge profit from just exporting the electronic waste to

KEY ISSUE: Electronic waste (aka: E-Waste) produced by affluent countries ends up in developing countries, where it poisons the local environment and people. 41.5 million tons of e-waste was generated in 2011, and 93.5 million tons is expected to be generated per year by 2016 (Bonnington 2014). Many companies claim to have the environment in mind by designing products that use less energy or have eco-friendly packaging (Bonnington 2014). However, those green initiatives aren’t worth boasting about, since billions of electronics are trashed annually for the newer, more publicized versions.

Our world is constantly changing around us, with technology regularly advancing and improving. ‘Old’ technology and devices are being exchanged for newer objects. These discarded items contain hazardous waste (both to human health and the environment) and more waste is created during the manufacturing process. This creates a vast amount of electronic waste, henceforth referred to as ewaste. The amount of ewaste is growing exponentially; according to the US Environmental Protection Agency an estimate of 5 to 10 percent increase worldwide is expected each year (STEP Initiative). Even more alarming is that only 5% of this amount is being recovered and is properly disposed (STEP Initiative). “Today’s globally interconnected economy ensures that there is no county in the world that does not have a hazardous waste problem” (Basel Convention, Simplified Text). Despite this being a global problem, there are very few international laws concerning the regulation of ewaste, except for the UN Basel Convention and its more recent declarations, instead with countries being left to come up with their own laws. International Laws also contain broad definitions of what constitutes ewaste. The Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes heralded a new era in international cooperation with regard to dealing in trans-boundary trade in hazardous waste, and also guidelines and regulations to ensure proper disposal by the countries. This paper aims to address

The most important standard within the ISO 14000 series is the ISO 14001 standard. ISO 14001 specifies the requirements of an environmental management system (EMS) for small to large organizations. The ISO 14001 is based on the Plan-Check-DO-Review Improve cycle shown in figure 1.

This research paper will introduce and define the concept of E-waste, provide an analyses of some possible causes of electronic waste, outline the impact of electronic waste to both humans and the environment and provide a variety of strategies and techniques that can be made to reduce E-waste and properly collect, recycle and dispose electronic materials.

What is ISO 9001? ISO 9001 is an international standard that focus on the requirements for a quality management system. Companies in different countries use this system as it proves the capability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and requirements that they want. The first signs of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9001 was back in 1987, this was the birth time when the quality management standard system (ISO 9001) began after ISO 9000 was seen to be “…as too formal, too static and somehow bureaucratic. (Langhammer, 2008)” ISO 9001 purpose was to implement a quality management system that ISO 9000 did not provide. In today’s time, ISO 9001 is better-rounded for sectors and industries all

The initial plan was for the standards to be review every five years. In 1992 the first review was purely superficial. In 1994 the second edition to the standards were published and focused on facilitating mutual comprehension of quality management systems requirements in national and international trade. The certification format was initiated to minimize costs of customer-sponsored audits executed to validate the potential of their suppliers. The certification format was initiated out of a reticence of customers to engage in trade relationships with organizations that were not identified or respected in the market place to assist in contractual relationships between customers and suppliers. This 1994 version was used as a reference in non-contractual situations. In the early 1990’s the Technical Committee of ISO published a document entitled Vision 2000. In this publication they articulated their aspirations for future use of the standards. It took a decade before a new version of the ISO 9000 was published that mirrored the principles addressed in the publication of Vision 2000.

In Pakistan, the computers and other obsolete electronic goods are imported under the pretext of 'second-hand equipment. A small percentage of the items imported are usable. In practice, after removing the working machines and usable parts, the bulk of the consignment is sent to the recycling industry Hundreds of workers, including teenage children, earn their livelihoods by dismantling the electronic scrap and extracting valuable components E-waste has Environmental repercussions of the various highly toxic elements like lead, cadmium, barium, mercury and chromium which are released during the dismantling of these used computers. There is no proper system to recycle and dispose e-waste in Pakistan, which is a serious issue.