poison to the environment: e-waste

Due to advanced technology and a gadget dependent society it is an unavoidable fact electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) is becoming the largest growing waste stream. Alone in 2014, 41 Million Tons of e-waste was generated and it only increases every year. That is boundless heaps of refrigerators, computers, television sets, ovens, telephones, air conditioning units, lamps, toasters and other electric and electronic devices, with a total weight equal to seven times that of the Great Pyramid of Giza".

Hard to imagine is that only 15.5% from the total waste is recycled using an efficiently and environmentally safe method. Among all the continents, Africa is the second least e-waste producing continent and the least e-waste producer per habitant with only 1.9 Mt. The highest per inhabitant e-waste quantity was generated in Europe including Russia.

50 percent to 80 percent of this e-waste are handled in informal recycling markets in China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The handling often includes shredding, burning, and dismantling of the products in "backyards." Emissions from these recycling practices are damaging human health and the environment. Often these chemicals are not biodegradable, they stay in the environment for a long period of time.

Although this “burning” of e-waste is temporarily taking place in the underdeveloped and developing countries, in the long term, however, it effects the whole universe providing an unsafe place for our future generations.

source:

https://i.unu.edu/media/unu.edu/news/52624/UNU-1stGlobal-E-Waste-Monitor-2014-small.pdf

http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2013/e-waste.aspx

source picture:

http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/campaigns/toxics/problems/e-waste/guiyu/