ELECTRONIC WASTE

Gurpreet kaur Mtech (est.) 601101005

Content
What is Electronic Waste? Electronic Equipments in E-Waste How these become E-Waste? Generators of E-Waste Why E-Waste a problem? Constituents of E-Waste E-Waste Disposal E-Waste in INDIA What should be done?

What is Electronic Waste?

It is the term used to describe old, end-of-life or discarded appliances using electricity and battery.

Electronic Equipments
Computers Mobile Phones Air Conditioner

Laptops

Telephone

Irons

Drill Machines

Treadmills

Printers

How these become E-Waste?

Changes and Advancement in technology Changes in fashion, style, and status Changing configuration Attractive offers from manufacturers Small life of equipments

Generators of E-Waste
Small business and House hold. Large businesses, Institutions and Government offices. Equipment manufacturers.

Some examples
Cell phone upgrades Digital TV Conversion Software upgrades Can't change the battery in your iPod Disposable printers

Why E-Waste A Problem?

Composed of Hazardous Materials Products are quickly obsolete and discarded Electronic products are difficult to recycle Discarded electronics are managed badly Most e-waste goes to Landfills Most recyclers dont recycle , they export

Constituents Of E-Waste
Hazardous materials Valuable materials

Source of ewastes
printed circuit boards, computer monitors

Constituent (Hazardous)
Lead (Pb)

Health effects
Damage to

nervous system and kidney Affects brain development of children. Cadmium (Cd)
Accumulates in

Chip resistors and semiconductors

kidney and liver. Causes neural damage.

Relays and switches, printed circuit boards Motherboard

Mercury (Hg)

Chronic damage to the brain. Respiratory and skin disorders lung cancer

Beryllium (Be)

Front panel of CRTs.

Barium (Ba)

Muscle weakness; Damage to heart, liver and spleen

Valuable Materials
Source of ewastes
Cable, Housing

Constituent (Valuable)
Plastics

Uses
Insulation

Funnel glass in CRTs

Housing, CRT

Lead, gold
Mercury, Zinc

Metal joining, Connectivity

Batteries, switches

Housing, CRT, connectors

Aluminum, Silver Conductivity, magnetivity Copper, iron

Waste Hierarchy
refers to the "3 Rs" reduce, reuse and recycle Its aim is to extract maximum benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste.

E-Waste Disposal
Methods
Recycle Landfill

Incineration
Reuse

E-Waste Recycling
Definition:Recycling is defined as the assembling, developing, promoting, or buying of new products, which are prepared from waste materials.

Steps in Recycling
Dismantling of E-Waste Removal of hazardous materials such as lead, mercury , removal of plastic etc. Strong acids are used to remove valuable metals such as gold, lead, copper etc.

Methods for recycling

Consumer recycling Donation Take back Exchange
Corporate recycling

Advantages
Recycled materials can be used in developing new equipments
Valuable Materials are retrieved Helps environment by avoiding pollution

Recycle Steps in INDIA

Manual Dismantling Refining and conditioning Solid waste is deposited in a municipal landfill.

Land filling
Definition:Land fill is also known as dump, is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment.

Disadvantages
Metals like mercury, cadmium, lead leaches into the soil and ground water making them polluted Requires large amount of space
It is not a environmentally sound treatment

Incineration
Definition:It is a controlled and complete combustion process, in which the waste material is burned in specially designed incinerators at a high temperature (900-1000 C).
Incinerator

Advantages
Reduction of waste volume Utilization of energy of combustible substances hazardous substances are converted into less hazardous substances

Disadvantages
Emission of harmful gases and residues Emission of cadmium and mercury

Re-Use
Definition:It constitutes direct use or use after slight modifications to the original functioning equipment.

Advantages
Electronic equipments like computers, cell phones etc. can be re-used.
This method also reduces the volume of e-waste generation. No wastage of time and money

E-Waste in INDIA
over 2 million e-waste is
generated every year Harmful techniques like burning wires are common practice in the informal recycling sectors in big cities in India.

INDIAN SCENARIO

Did you know?

The average lifespan of computers has dropped from 6 years in 1997 to just 2 years in 2005. Mobile phones have a lifecycle of less than two years in developed countries. 183 million computers were sold worldwide in 2004 - 11.6 percent more than in 2003.

674 million mobile phones were sold worldwide in 2004 - 30 percent more than in 2003. By 2010, there will be 716 million new computers in use. There will be 178 million new computer users in China, 80 million new users in India.

What should be done?

Proper laws and policies should be made Awareness among consumers and manufacturers Recycling should be preferred Products should be made recyclable Make usage of recycled products Do not throw away old equipments

Conclusion
It is important that we create a national framework for the environmentally sound management of e-waste including wide public awareness and education Conduct detailed inventories of e-waste Initiate pilot schemes on collection and sorting of e-wastes including take back schemes and schemes for repair refurbishment and recycling