E-Waste Effects (Research Paper Sample)

Effects of E-waste
Name:
Institution
In a world that is changing at a pace that can hardly be sustainable, the issue of managing its wastes poses as the greatest predicament to both leaders and the people globally. Keeping the environment clean and free of hazards is the nagging headache among manufactures and innovators. Hitherto, wastes were only limited to toxic food wastes and textiles. However, there is a new monster in town- electronic waste. Electronic waste, hereafter referred to as e-waste, refers to Cathode Ray Tubes and any other unwanted electronic equipment. This type of waste is new to the people, owing to the newness of most technological appliances. It ranges from home appliances like fridges to mobile phones and laptops. To support the matter in question, how many dumpsites do you see with laptops and televisions strewn everywhere? However, you cannot miss a homestead or office with an old telephone lying in the basement or in some old store. You could be lucky to find dustbins with mobile phones in them. This is where the problem sets in, as the electronic waste, just like any other waste, should be properly disposed or will otherwise have adverse negative effects as this paper seeks to illustrate.
Illegal refurbishing of products
Currently most countries have no laws governing disposal of electronic wastes. This gives most electronic companies the leeway to dispose their unwanted devices in dumpsites. This is not restricted to manufacturers alone, as even home users are allowed to dump their used up radios in the local dumpsite. This has caught the eye of a few opportunistic people who take up the electronic wastes and refurbish them to sell to the public.
They choose from the myriad of waste available and sort the ones they can remodel cheaply and make a living out of them. This could go unnoticed if they maintain the brand of the product (Adeola, 2011). However, this does not portend well for the initial company because the customers who intended to purchase their products end up buying from a scrupulous fellow who merely repainted the initial device and smiled his way to the bank. This potentially cuts down the company’s revenue whose customer outreach was virtually big but has been stolen by a ‘clever’ person. This situation has been noted where European and Asian countries illegally acquire dumped electronic devices especially mobile phones and perform an insignificant upgrade, then sell them to African countries at the same or even exaggerated prices! This will not only affect the company’s employees but also discourage people from investing in that particular business, say a mobile phone company.
Use of substandard refurbished products.
Whoever the refurbished devices are targeted for, lies in a trench of risk. The electronic waste is mostly damaged devices that are unsafe for domestic use. For example, a refrigerator that has outlived its lifespan and is releasing CFC’s is harmful to the user. The owner prefers to dump it. The opportunistic man then picks it up, tightens a few nuts and bolts here and there, and brands it safe for humanity. He sells it to the gullible person down the street who then suffers from the dire consequences from using the appliance. This is contrary to the initial manufacturer’s manual, which indicates that the product had made to the highest possible standards.
This lowers the trust people have on the particular brand and this eats into the company’s wallet and morale. Let’s not forget that the company is made up of people who also have families to feed. What happens if you are forced to shut down and lay off one about 4000 employees on payroll? That’s the perfect recipe for mayhem.
Health hazard
Looking away from the typical environmental health hazards like human and animal wastes, electronic wastes pose the greatest risks to human life as far as the environment is concerned. This stems from the materials used to manufacture the devices. These range from lead and mercury, to chromium and arsenic. When using your laptop or radio that is properly encased in a safe housing, one is probably not aware of the health risks that the device poses once it is broken or damaged. For example, in the case of a laptop, most of its inner parts are made of heavy metals like lead and chromium. Lead has been known to cause lead poisoning that can lead to death. It also causes mental retardation in children and neonates. This is a tragic one, as it is likely unforeseen that dumping your damaged laptop in the backyard would be the cause of your child’s mental insufficiency. Chromium causes skin irritation and rashes if exposed to for a long period. It is also carcinogenic, which is life threatening (Hester & Harrison, 2009). Not all these would be things to worry about if people took the initiative to properly dispose these electronic wastes. Some gadgets like mobile phones and pagers have been made of mercury and arsenic in their internal parts. The threats that the two pose cannot be underrated.
Mercury poisons the body by literally blocking blood vessels and like anyone’s guess, this leads to breakdown of major body organs. From that situation death is inevitable. Contamination can be through direct or indirect exposure. Direct exposure is for example when children come into contact with spoilt cell phones. The indirect means is where electronic wastes may be dumped into large water bodies like the seas and oceans, planktons absorb the mercury and arsenic in them. Subsequently, they are eaten by fish, which in turn are consumed by man. Small gadgets are not left out either. Sockets and switches contain Bromium Flame Retardants, which have been known to cause neurologic side effects if they get into the body. Some medical experts also argue that they cause swelling of lymph nodes and are factors in spreading certain cancers. This portrays just how improper disposal electronic apparatuses could potentially be life threatening. Burning of substances that contain Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) such as cables could lead to air pollution (Kahhat, Hieronymi & Williams, 2013). Air pollution in turn causes respiratory ailments like bronchitis and asthmatic attacks that are life draining.
Soil infertility
The current world seems to disregard the source of all its food and resources, the soil. Electronic devices are frequently being dumped on every ground, although some ‘cunning’ folks prefer to bury the wastes into the ground. This form of disposal may seem not to have any consequential predicaments from a single disposer, however, its effects may be highly consequential if practised by a global manufacturer, for example, dealers of diesel generators, who decide to dispose thousands of scrap metal.
This harmful load is laid on the previously fertile soil. This then has ripple effects that devour the common man’s mode of survival, agriculture. Even if the place is isolated or branded barren land like a desert, the toxic waste may be absorbed deep into the water basin and is bound to end up into the soils of the arable land (Johri, 2008). Apart from the obvious health risks of consuming mercury from contaminated food as earlier mentioned, the risk of rendering a whole five hectares unsuitable for maize farming is just unpalatable. The reasoning stares right into our faces that you cannot grow a bean seed on soil that has a laptop screen embedded in it. If the proper modes of disposable are not devised, then the world will be forced to feed on the el...