Hazardous Waste Essay

In the article, “From Gadget to Garbage: Tackling The Problem of Discarded Technology” from the Orange County Register, the NewsELA staff states, “No one is sure how much e-waste ends up being exported from the U.S., the EPA says, but “the United States government is concerned that these exports are being mismanaged abroad, causing serious public health and environmental hazards.” The quote explains that by exporting e-waste incorrectly, public health and the environment are being put at risk. The quoted statement implies that e-waste shouldn’t be exported and should stay in it’s country, for public health and environmental safety. When the author uses the word, “mismanaged” it means the incorrect handling of things, which in the article the

This paper will discuss what e-waste is, what is happening to the e-waste and why it is a problem. The paper will then discuss what can be done to improve the situation.

Electronics Recycling. Electronic recycling is one consideration the company can do better with. Recycling in general lowers greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by manufacturing items for the first time. Recycling electronics conserves natural resources making cleaner air and water. The valuable resources computers and electronic components carry are metals, plastics, and glass. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recycling a million laptops would give back enough energy for 3500 American homes’ electricity. A million cell phones would could yield 35,000 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium. Instead of throwing out the old computers and blackberry’s, the company could simply upgrade the hardware or software and then recycle the parts necessary.

Municipal solid wastes are leftovers made by the population such as food, plastic bottles, household wares and many more. These items referred by most as “the garage” or “trash”. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2015) In the early 1900’s, incinerators were used to burn waste however by the Mid-20th century, lawmakers enacted the first government regulations in an attempt to address increasing concerns about the environmental impact of unregulated waste management practices. With the first waste management legislation being passed in 1965, brought along the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, thus bringing us into a new world of waste management.(Vault, n.d.)

E-waste or electronic waste is the number 1 fastest growing trash in the united states since 2004. E-waste is made up of lead, mercury, , and caldium. All of these Acids are deadly to the human body. Alex lin and many other teen activists work with these acids every day. Also, These activists are trying to stop these deadly acid from seeking into the ground and killing natural resources. These acids can also get into the water systems and harm people. When you get a new electronic you would most likely through it out in the TRASH, but you should recycle old electronics. According to the Electronic recycling 101 article, 3 million tons of electronic are trough out and only 13.6 of them are recycled. This shows that many people are unaware of

As used electronics is becoming a waster hazard worldwide local governments such as where I live include programs at local waste stations purely for electronics. This encourages local residents to freely drop off their electronic waste, like TV’s and computers and mobile phones to these locations where the waste is sorted and than shipped to facilities that can process this waste appropriately which also includes recycling as much material as possible. This has a

It has become the new “norm” with people to replace their electronics because their devices become out of date or they feel like they have to have the latest thing. In the article “Our E-Waste Problem Is Ridiculous, And Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping,” by Christina Bonnington, the author discusses how people buy new electronics every year when they come out and the old ones get abandoned. She also talks about how many people aren’t properly recycling their old devices and how some electronics can be impossible to recycle the right way. She also talks

Today, with over 7 billion people on Earth, the demand for technology is rising rapidly. As companies work hard to meet demands and mass produce technology for both society and businesses, they release harmful chemicals and gasses which pollute the environment and result in climate changes (Ramey). And not only does the overproduction of technology pollute the air, but it also harms the ground that we stand on. Technotrash, or any broken or unwanted electronic device, is currently the most rapidly-growing type of waste (Green) and according to GreenDisk, a company dedicated towards safely recycling technotrash, over 80% of technotrash is not being recycled. While technotrash represents only 2% of America’s trash in landfills, it equals 70% (emphasis) of overall toxic waste (“11 Facts”) because the toxins in technology can leak into the ground (Anthony). For example, lead from cell phone circuit boards can cause

In her essay, “The Story of Stuff: Electronics”, Annie Leonard discusses certain technology manufacturing processes, and the growing ecological problems of technological “e-waste” that they cause.

Alex Lin was one teen activist who saw a problem in e-waste.He was reading an article from the wall street journal, and he saw that there was an e-waste tsunami to come. In the article, it said that Americans discarded more than 112,000 computers daily, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.Even worse, just 18 percent of discarded televisions and computer products were collected for recycling.To stop this he created team W.I.N, {Westerly Innovations Network}.He worked with Metech International to hold a recycling program for e-waste and they collected 21,000 pounds of E-Waste.Then his team saw that it was easier to refurbish the electronics than to recycle them.He worked with his school district to put refurbishing

Certainly, the complex the organization the complex the computer disposal policy; nevertheless, it would be interesting to know how e-waste responsible is this organization. The EPA endorses two recycling programs, the e-Stewards and the R2 that require independent audits to ensure the disposal protocol. I am certain they would follow one of them, right?

Hazardous waste and its proper disposal have become a major sociological problem today due to its capability of contaminating the area in which we live and its potential to be lethal to all living things. In order for the United States and the rest of the world to save itself from a potentially life threatening problem they must fix the causes which lead to the improper disposal of hazardous wastes and like materials. Some reasons that hazardous waste has become a problem in the United States today is due to the breakdown in enforcing laws for the proper disposal of such wastes, a lack of initiative on big companies behalf to spend money on proper disposal, and the ease of disposing of such wastes illegally.

The e-waste have now become the essential part of the solid waste but very few methods such as land filling, incineration are dealing with it however these also have their advantages and disadvantages. To some extent recycling and reuse have provides many advantages over the other methods but it also have some limitations. Some main features of all these methods which are recently in practice to deal with e-waste are described

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.

The Generation of hazardous waste by the human activities increase the risk of the damage to the environment and the human health. These create a very negative impact if not disposed properly. In the state of Illinois the implementation of the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is referred to as hazardous waste. This act consists of the changes to the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1956 and signed into the law of 1976. The regulations related to the implementation of