E-waste Epidemic:
What Can Be Done to Stop the Newest Crisis of Pollution?
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
2.0 Defining the Problem …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
2.1: Harmful Health and Environmental Effects of Electronic Waste …………………………………. 4
2.1.1: Health Concerns ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
2.1.2: Environmental Concerns ………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
2.1.3: Human Impact ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
2.2: Governmental Policy on Electronic Waste ……………………………………………………………….. 6
2.2.1: Background on Current Global Policy ……………………………………………………………….. 6
2.2.2: Exportation of Electronic Waste from the United States ………………………………………. 8
2.3: Exponential Growth of Electronic Waste …………………………………………………………………. 8
2.3.1 Increasing Number of Technologies ……………………………………………………………………. 8
2.3.2 Increasing Global Technology Access ………………………………………………………………… 9
3.0 Analyzing the Problem ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
3.1: Industry Standards …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
3.1.1 Planned Obsolescence ………………………………………………………………………………………. 9
3.1.2 Lack of Recycling in Product Lifecycle …………………………………………………………….. 11
3.2: Lack of Incentive…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
3.2.1: Consumer Standpoint …………………………………………………………………………………….. 12
3.2.2: Producer Standpoint ………………………………………………………………………………………. 12
3.2.3: Recycler Standpoint……………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
3.3: Lack of Enforcement ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 14
4.0 Establishing Criteria…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15
5.0 Possible Solutions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 16
5.1: Solution 1-Imposing Responsibility to the Manufacturers ………………………………………… 16
5.1.1: Explain Solution 1 …………………………………………………………………………………………. 16
5.1.2: Testing and Implementation of Solution 1 ………………………………………………………… 17
5.1.3: Evaluate Solution 1………………………………………………………………………………………… 17
5.2: Solution 2-Repairing and Reusing Electronic Devices ……………………………………………… 18
5.2.1: Explain Solution 2 …………………………………………………………………………………………. 18
5.2.2: Testing and Implementation of Solution 2 ………………………………………………………… 18
5.2.3: Evaluate Solution 2………………………………………………………………………………………… 20
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5.3: Solution 3-Banning Exportation ……………………………………………………………………………. 21
5.3.1: Explain Solution 3 …………………………………………………………………………………………. 21
5.3.2: Testing and Implementation of Solution 3 ………………………………………………………… 22
5.3.3: Evaluate Solution 3………………………………………………………………………………………… 22
5.4: Solution 4-Regulating Amount of Toxic Materials in Electronics ……………………………… 24
5.4.1: Explain Solution 4 …………………………………………………………………………………………. 24
5.4.2: Testing and Implementation of Solution 4 ………………………………………………………… 27
5.4.3: Evaluate Solution 4………………………………………………………………………………………… 27
5.5: Solution 5-Establishing Recycling Programs ………………………………………………………….. 28
5.5.1: Explain Solution 5 …………………………………………………………………………………………. 28
5.5.2: Testing and Implementation of Solution 5 ………………………………………………………… 29
5.5.3: Evaluate Solution 5………………………………………………………………………………………… 30
6.0 Conclusion …………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………. 31
6.1: Synthesis of Solutions ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 31
6.2: Final Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 32
Works Cited …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 33
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1.0 Introduction
Young brothers Asif and Salim would likely be in school if they were living in America,
but their toxic livelihoods in India robbed them of a normal childhood and a healthy adulthood.
The seven and twelve-year-olds spend their time picking apart old computers and mobile phones
exported to India from the United States. Poisoned by mercury, lead, cadmium, and other
dangerous chemicals in electronic waste products, Asif and Salim are at risk of suffering lung
damage, learning disabilities, nerve damage, bronchitis, asthma, blood poisoning, and cancer. By
age thirty-five, these problems will render them unable to work, and they will live the remainder
of their short lives in misery (“India’s Poor Risk”).
Asif and Salim are just two of the thousands of children who will die prematurely
because of poor management of electronic trash, known as e-waste. Many developed nations,
such as the United States, have implemented a solution that can best be summed up as “out of
sight, out of mind.” Most domestic electronic waste is being exported to developing nations
rather than being properly disposed of. In fact, the U.S. is the largest exporter of e-waste in the
world (“Electronic Waste”). In 2014, 11.7 million tons of e-waste were generated by the U.S.,
and only sixteen percent of that was recycled (LeBlanc), with the vast majority of the rest being
sent to poison the soils of foreign nations. E-waste is a growing problem for the world at large,
and America is leading the ruinous charge.
All this e-waste is exported through a lack of proper incentives and shoddy public policy.
While electronic waste has some valuable metals and reusable plastics, most of these are not
recycled because it is difficult to manage and is currently unprofitable. Collecting recyclable
electronics, delivering them to recycling plants, and maintaining these plants are all additional
costs that require monetary incentives to offset. Also, policy and enforcement have failed to
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promote electronic waste management. In 2011, Congress passed a bill that was supposed to
limit e-waste; however, it failed to actually reduce exports at all (“Federal E–Waste Effort”). In
fact, in 2015, an executive order reverted progress towards solving the issue. It removed a rating
system used to determine how responsibly electronic materials are handled (Stringer).
With knowledge of the harms of e-waste and how current policy fails to deal with it, it
becomes obvious that new solutions are needed. E-waste recycling and clear, powerful policies
that limit the exportation of e-waste are the most effective answers for the issue. Developing
nations are beginning to grasp the severity of the problem and are developing their own policies
to limit the damages and import of e-waste. By assisting these foreign policies and implementing
strong, enforceable policy, the current disaster that electronic waste poses can be stopped.
2.0 Defining the Problem
2.1: Harmful Health and Environmental Effects of Electronic
Waste
2.1.1: Health Concerns
Failing to manage e-waste is extremely dangerous to human health. Rubicon Global, a
sustainable waste recycling company, states that only two percent of trash comes from e-waste,
but this makes up a whopping seventy percent of all toxic waste (“Electronic Waste”). These
toxins can spread to the air from disposed electronics and can cause lung inflammation, DNA
damage, heart disease, and cancer (Heimbuch). Lead and cadmium poisoning is especially
dangerous in children who process the materials, as it damages growth and can lead to learning
disabilities. Exposure to e-waste can also bring damage to the nervous system, bronchitis,
breathing problems, mercury poisoning, and blood poisoning (“India’s Poor Risk”). Put simply,
e-waste directly causes pain, disabilities, and shortened life expectancy.
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An unfortunate example is Guiyu, China, where hundreds of thousands of impoverished
laborers work to break down e-waste coming mostly from the United States. A United Nations
report found that laborers pour hydrochloric acid to burn down e-waste, causing frequent skin
burns. Sixty-nine percent of children in Guiyu have lead poisoning, and Guiyu’s children suffer
lower IQs than other children in the region. The air in Guiyu is filled with dust, and most
residents have bronchitis. Nearby farms are now abandoned, as the soil has become dry and
useless. This has caused further dependence on the local e-waste industry, trapping Guiyu in a
cycle of poverty, death, and destruction (Recycling of Electronic Wastes in China & India).
2.1.2: Environmental Concerns
What happened to Guiyu’s agriculture brings up another consequence of mismanaged
electronic waste. The high levels of toxicity in e-waste lead to detrimental damage to the
environment, both in local communities and the global atmosphere. This toxicity may come in
the form of microscopic particles, which develop from burning e-waste. These particles, called
aerosols, are spread around the world by trade winds, but especially from China to North
America. If unchecked, they could eventually increase rates of lung cancer in the United States.
Furthermore, the chemicals from the waste can leach into the ground and poison water sources,
spreading the toxicity to those who would not normally be affected.
The global problem of toxic e-waste not only affects air and water quality, but it also
impacts large food supplies. Due to the activities in Guiyu, twenty percent of the arable land and
thirty percent of the national rice crop in China is estimated to be polluted or contaminated
because of e-waste (Magee and Prather). This is decreasing the amount of available farmland to
feed a growing population and can lead to high levels of cadmium consumption on a global
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level. Mismanagement of toxic e-waste is destroying the quality of the environment, endangering
human lives, and harming the global economy indirectly as a result.
2.1.3: Human Impact
E-waste’s environmental damage also creates dangerous living conditions for those
around it. Agbogbloshie, Ghana is among the world’s largest dumping grounds. Once a
beautiful, green region with a running river home to a myriad of native species, today the smelly
dumping ground is home to dying things – dying people, dying animals, and a dying river.
Though the United States Environmental Protection Agency says that lead levels of 400 parts per
million are unsafe, the government of Ghana has not expressed concern about Agbogbloshie’s
level of 18,125 parts per million. The destruction of Agbogbloshie’s environment is estimated to
affect 250,000 people, and numerous impacts from the devastation will be almost impossible to
