Electronic Waste

Electronic Waste

Introduction

Within the few years, the western countries dispose off their electronic equipments. Recently many laws have been implemented by several countries which obligate the analogue to digital switching of television broadcasting, which increases the rate of disposing off old televisions by people. With technological advancement in accelerating rate, the global south and North is facing rapid replacements of computers and mobile phones. This is because the electronic waste or e-waste is increasing rapidly (ifixit.com).

People are unaware that electronic goods various chemicals contained in them. For say, the typical CRT contains a glass which contains ten pounds of lead. Considerable amounts of mercury are contained within most of the flat panel displays. The plastic cases of electronic items are coated with poly-brominated flame retardant which is the fire-resistant chemical, one of the nasty chemicals on earth. These chemicals can't be thrown in the open landfill to contaminate soil and leach the water supply. Annually, about 40 million tons of electronic waste is produced around the globe. The electronic waste comprises of mobile phones, washing machines and refrigerators. By dismantling the items and recovering the valuable materials. Money is earned by some businesses which are then sold to the manufacturers (Ferry, 2013).

Causes of the Electronic Waste

Technological advancement and continuous accelerating consumption of electronic goods is the main cause and reason for the increment in electronic waste. Apart from technology, the human mentality and population, development is causing disposal problems to increase in excess. Following are the other main causes of electronic waste.

Development

Around the world, there are about more than billion personal computers. Within the developed countries, the average life time of electronic items is 2 years. Only in the United States, there are 300 million outdated computers. Apart from the developed countries, the developing countries are also facing increase in sales of electronic goods leading to more wastage in the country. Within the developed countries, the sales of computers and internet have increased by about 400%. As the division of digital disposal is narrowing, the question arises about the disposal of computers and other IT goods. The industry of electronics and IT is expanding at an alarming rate, mainly due to globalization (e-warriors.byethost31.com).

Technology

Technology is advancing at a fast pace in this modern era. The development of technology leads to production of new appliances and products. The major reason for this huge production of electronic goods is the multinational corporations. The multinational corporations in this era are so powerful that the whole market system of the country can be influenced by them. Better technology is provided by the multinational corporations because they have high budget and more money than few countries. The MNCs also have the power of decision-making and quality. Profit is not the only aim of the business when a MNC is initiated. Because of this, the prosperity has begun within the middle classes which have made prices to slow down and improvement in quality (e-warriors.byethost31.com).

Human mentality

Human mentality is the power of the common people, ...