UNITAR: “The world is experiencing significant electronification, including a digital transformation, with technologies profoundly changing the way we live, work, learn, socialize, and do business. Many people own and use multiple electronic devices, and the increasing interconnectivity of urban and remote areas has led to a rise in the number of devices and objects linked… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Search Results for: e-waste
Discarded toys are creating an e-waste disaster. Here’s how to stop it.
Grist – Toys that move, make noise, and light up are winding up in landfills — but they could be recycled, with better policies. “…According to a recent report by the WEEE Forum, a multinational nonprofit organization focused on the management of “waste electrical and electronic equipment,” the world threw out more than 7 billion… Continue Reading
How to (properly) get rid of all your e-waste
Mashable: “…“Globally, e-waste is the most traded hazardous waste on the planet,” Jim Puckett, the executive director of the Basel Action Network (BAN) said. BAN is an electronics recycling watchdog organization that monitors where electronic waste ends up after being “recycled.” Unfortunately, all too often, e-waste from affluent countries like the U.S. gets shipped offshore… Continue Reading
Meet the Women Tackling E-Waste
ifixit: “Repair is for everyone. But the reality is, the world of tech is not yet equal. 34 percent of iFixit’s employees are female, and nearly half of our leadership roles are filled by women. That’s pretty good for a tech company, but there’s always room to do better. Writer Gloria Steinem once said, “The… Continue Reading
Where in the world does your e-waste go?
HuffPo: “In a sparse and sprawling factory complex on the outskirts of Shanghai, thousands of tiny plastic resin pellets are shivering along narrow conveyor belts, ready to be transformed into something new. The dark pellets are unremarkable at first glance, resembling any plastic granule used for manufacturing. But follow their journey from consumer to conveyor… Continue Reading
Regional E-waste Monitor: East and Southeast Asia
Via Yale Environment 360: “The amount of e-waste that Asian countries are tossing into landfills has increased 63 percent over the last five years, according to a recent report by the United Nations and the Japanese Ministry of the Environment. China’s e-waste, for example, more than doubled between 2010 and 2015, averaging 22 pounds per… Continue Reading
Report – Exporting the Public’s E-waste to Developing Countries
“The international toxic trade watchdog organization, Basel Action Network (BAN), released a new report today following a two-year study that involved placing electronic GPS tracking devices into old hazardous electronic equipment such as printers, and computer monitors, and then watching where they travelled across the globe. The report, the first to be released from the… Continue Reading
Report – In Developing World, A Push to Bring E-Waste Out of Shadows
Mike Ives: “For decades, hazardous electronic waste from around the world has been processed in unsafe backyard recycling operations in Asia and Africa. Now, a small but growing movement is seeking to provide these informal collectors with incentives to sell e-waste to advanced recycling facilities…Researchers say printed circuit boards, which often contain gold and other valuable… Continue Reading
The Expanding Global Impact of Cellphone E-Waste
New York Times – The Afterlife of Cellphones: “Americans threw out just shy of three million tons of household electronics in 2006. This so-called e-waste is the fastest-growing part of the municipal waste stream and, depending on your outlook, either an enormous problem or a bonanza. E-waste generally contains substances that, though safely sequestered during… Continue Reading
EPA Site On Recycling E-Waste
Where Can I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer and Other Electronic Products? Related postings on e-waste and e-cycling Continue Reading
Executive Director of UN Environment Programme Highlights Growing Problem of E-Waste
Basel Conference Addresses Electronic Wastes Challenge: “Some 20 to 50 million metric tonnes of e-waste are generated worldwide every year, comprising more than 5% of all municipal solid waste. When the millions of computers purchased around the world every year (183 million in 2004) become obsolete they leave behind lead, cadmium, mercury and other hazardous… Continue Reading
Recycling of E-Waste Continues to Lag
Follow-up to previous postings on e-waste, see this New York Times article, Clearing a path from desktop to the recycler, by Paul Vitello. “The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that people threw away 2.5 million tons of electronic equipment, known as e-waste, last year, about 10 percent of which was recycled.” Continue Reading
