Just count how many electronic devices you changed in the last five year. Three? Four? or maybe Five? Now make a cumulative result of the number of discarded electronic devices in your home. So many, right? Now think how many electronic devices shall be going to waste all around the world. Nowadays, humans are contributing immensely to e-garbage, which is posing a big threat to a sustainable environment and ecology.
What is E-Waste?
Electronic or e-waste describes the electronic or electric devices that go into the garbage. These devices have harmful components like lead, beryllium, and cadmium, which are very harmful to human health. In an era of technological advancement, every day, a new invention and a new creation takes the world by storm. Whether out of necessity or merely due to the trend of jumping on the bandwagon, people choose the new technology and discard the old ones.
What's E-Waste Management?
E-waste management is the process of dealing with electronic waste to overcome the fastest-growing pollution problem. Before jumping into how e-waste is managed we all should individually affirm the responsibility. First of all, we should avoid creating e-waste. But if we do, we should hire a professional waste management company to deal with it appropriately. Many services of Skip Hire in UK make sure that they collect the waste and sort it with their hands. They separate e-waste from green waste and medical waste etc.
1- Recycling E-waste:
The basic method of managing electronic waste is recycling. It is practised both formally and informally.
a- Formal E-Waste Recycling:
Most developed countries rely on formal electronic waste management because it is a better approach to confirm environmental and health protection. This process involves dissembling electronics, separating the segments, and cleaning them. The components are shredded mechanically for further segregation while maintaining health concerns in focus because its harmful components can immediately react. This process needs adherence to health and safety rules, therefore this approach is expansive. The processed parts are separated into recyclable material like plastic and metal.
b- Informal E-Waste Recycling:
It is a low-cost recycling process that many developing countries employ to manage their electronic waste. In this process, the people recover valuable components from the devices as gold from invaluable devices using acids and mercury. They also dismantle different parts of electronics with the hand to sell dismantled parts. The people recycling the e-waste do not wear protective gear and get exposed to health problems.
Significance of E-Waste Recycling:
If you improperly dispose of the electronic waste, like throwing it out in the open air, it may emit harmful radiations in the air, and the harmful metals may seep into waterways. It risks all human, animals, and marine life at a time. Therefore, it is very significant to dispose of properly.
Electronic waste can be recycled, but not all can afford to employ safe and sound strategies. As a result, it puts the health and safety of many people at the stake. Therefore, the two approaches better than recycling are:
Reduce:
Reduce the number of electronic waste as much as you can. Never discard any electronic or electric device unless it is completely useless. The more you reduce the number of e-waste, the more it will become easy to manage the existing ones. You can send the electronics to the manufacturer so they can recycle and create new devices.
Reuse:
If you have an electronic device that is still working, but you are privileged enough to buy a new one, you should not discard it. Give it to a relative, friend, or charity instead of putting it in the trash.
In a nutshell, you should not overlook a rising pollution concern of electronic waste, which can cause severe threats to the human and the ecology. We must take the responsibility of reducing, reusing, and disposing of the e-waste properly.