Electronic Waste Research Paper

Electronic waste is becoming one of the world’s largest issues. We continue to innovative and improve the products we use every day. When people upgrade their phones or any electronic device, they sometimes take them to an electronic waste recycling facility. When products are taken to the recycling centers, I often wonder where the old iPods and televisions end up.

During the first part of researching there was some surprising new that I found. E-waste may have been proved to be helping the environment, but in reality it also can hurt our environment. Usually, a computer will contain mercury or other many cancer causing-materials (E-Waste). When these hazardous materials are broken down, they can send harmful pollutions into our air. Recyclers need to know that what they are dealing with are harmful toxins.

The United States needs to enforce a law not allowing our waste to be sent to a developing country. Companies are sending it across the world because the cost of breaking it down are tremendously lower. All the company has to pay for is the shipment. When electronics are dropped off people just look at it as “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” (Borthakur). I believe the federal government should begin putting a regulation on the recycling processes, and lower the prices of breaking down electronics.

The majority of the E-waste is generated in India, generating 60% of it (Borthakur). E-waste is usually sold to India, where women and children will break down the parts while inhaling the hazardous toxins. Mercury is made into many of the circuit boards built today. When these circuit boards are broken down and heated up, it causes toxic things to go into the air in which not only hurts the people in the area, but also the global air.

In the last part of research I have found that here in the states some places are trying to legally recycle the waste. They have brought about many new rules that make the company follow to be a certified E-waste recycler.

I believe that if more people were aware of the E-waste, that we could improve the way it is recycled. We need to get people to start companies that are not worried about the price of breaking something down, but worried about the populations health. As the end I would ask, what do you think we should do to help the way E-waste is recycled?

Works Cited

“E-Waste.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. Borthakur, Anwesha, and Pardeep Singh. “Electronic Waste in India: Problems and Policies.” International Journal of Environmental Sciences 3.1 (2012): 353-362. Environment Complete. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.