The Importance of Recycling Electronic Equipment
And the associated benefits of that practice
The increasing numbers of new technologies we consume daily are leaving a lot of electronic equipment obsolete. There’s a great study done by the EPA, which is short for the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States. The study shows that the average life span of computers in the developed world has gone from about six years in 1997, to less than two years in 2005. The electronics market is a very dynamic and competitive one, and it always strives for innovations. But this competitiveness contributes to the rising economic growth of developing nation, and leaves us all faced with a big problem: What to do with all those electronics that have become obsolete?
All the electronics that get thrown away are laced with all kinds of hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium. These substances pose a serious threat not just to our environment, but to our health as well. That’s why it’s of the utmost importance that with treat this hazardous waste with great care. It’s essential that both people and businesses act responsibly and always choose the safest and least impactful way of disposing of their electronics.
The need for the safe disposal of electronics has already been identified in many developed nations, which pass laws and policies that regulate this issue. For example, there’s been a law passes in the European Union that directly affects this issue. It’s called the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive, and it was paired with the RoHS directive to create a legislation that became a part of the European Law. Its mission was to improve the way all operations involved in the life cycle of devices have the least environmental impact, from designing them in the first place, to disposing of them safely. It even requires technology production companies to take responsibility for every device they produce, and it goes as far as making them responsible for safe disposal of those devices. It’s a process known as “reverse logistics”, and it’s widely practiced across Europe. Countries like Switzerland, for example, show just how effective this legislation is. Switzerland produced about 10.3 kg of electronic waste per capita in 2006. After the WEEE directive got passed there, the amount of electronic waste per capita dropped to 4 kg in 2008.
While there are still no laws requiring companies to recycle their electrical and electronic waste in Chile, there are a lot of different organizations that started to work on this problem. These organizations started pressuring waste disposal companies into implementing safety measures when it comes to electronic waste.
An opportunity for improvement in the industry
When it comes to electrical and electronics industries, recycling this type of waste should be of the utmost importance. The reverse logistics principle isn’t a burden on the company’s budget, and it can prove to be an invaluable asset to generate more income. The same company that produces electronics retrieves those electronics from waste, and takes it to be recycled in the same facilities and plants it was created in. This creates a production loop that keeps all the money inside the company and promotes sustainability.
Recycling electronics might not have the immediate impact on the environment that recycling paper or plastic has, but it provides us with some other unexpected benefits. Recycling electronic waste requires more manual labor than other types of recycling, as the devices need to be dismantled and disinfected. This creates a whole new job market that requires a myriad of skillsets that range from brute manual labor, to specialized engineers and technicians.
Recycling electronic waste is an aspiring business, and you can do your part in supporting it by choosing to dispose of your electronics safely.