Electronic Scrap, Environmental Problems

Electronic scrap, Environmental Problems

The manufacture and use of electronic equipment increases accelerated worldwide in all areas where the human being develops, that is where the electronic industry appears;It is mainly the one in charge of the production of electronic devices;This sector is the one that currently constitutes the highest growth sector in developed countries.

For anyone it is a secret that these devices lead to great benefits that are obtained from the use of these electronic devices, since they contribute not only to the scientific, technological and industrial development of a society but also provide comfort and safety.

But just as the increase in consumption of electronic devices has been vertiginous worldwide, so it has also increased the production of waste of this type of products caused by the replacement, renewal or elimination of their development. "Annually, between 20 and 50 million tons of electronic garbage a year are generated"To this waste in the fastest growing in recent years. Either considered as waste, as garbage, as scrap or as a waste. Currently one of the main and serious problems is to discard this type of garbage, because most electronic devices contain toxic elements that, not being properly treated in their elimination, produce great damage to the environment and health.

According to some experts: any equipment that needs electricity for proper operation is an electronic equipment. The nomenclature residues of electrical and electronic devices (RAEE) and also Weee (Waste Electrical and Electronical Equipment), have been used to designate the class of waste that covers a great diversity of products, from domestic professionals to professionals, which covers televisions, monitors, computers, scanner, printers, audio equipment, DVD, video cameras, mobile phones, electronic toys, electric tools, fluorescent lamps and all appliances (US EPA, 2001).

Generally, they are composed of metals, glass, various types of plastics and other hazardous components that need special treatment.

Electronic products are constituted of a combination of modules. The basic modules, common to most electrical and electronic devices, are the sets of printed circuits, cables, flexible conductors, wires, plastics with or without flame retardants, visualizer devices, such as cathodic ray tubes, and glass screensLiquid, accumulators and batteries, data storage media, light generation elements, capacitances, resistors and relays, sensors and conductors. (Commission of the European Community, 2000)

The Basel Convention on the other hand defines electronic scrap as any electronic equipment or component unable to fulfill the task for which they were originally invented and produced:

Electronic devices out of use have an environmental concern for the following reasons:

• The space they are occupying in the landfills;
• The unsustainable consumption, waste of natural resources and energy used in its production, since the recycling is difficult, of low profitability and pollutant for the environment and also for the people who are responsible for this activity. The harmful substances they contain can give rise to environmental problems if there is no adequate treatment or are eliminated uncontrollably, the result is the contamination of landfills, soil, water to the same air, presenting a deterioration to human healthand to the environment.

At present, more than 90% of these waste is deposited in landfills, they are incinerated or valued without any previous treatment and, therefore, a good part of the various polluting agents that are in the flow of urban waste come from them (Commission of the European Community, 2000). Therefore, the negative environmental impact that electrical and electronic equipment can have when they are discarded at the end of their life cycle is evident.

Hazardous substances

Regarding the danger potential of the RAEE, the publication “Waste from Electrical and Electronic Product. A Survey of the Contents of Materials and Hazardoous Substances in Electric and Electronic Products ”of the Council of Nordic Ministers (1995) compiled different studies, whose information we reproduce below:

The most problematic substances from the environmental point of view contained in these components are heavy metals, such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and chromium, halogenated substances, such as chlorofluocarbons, chlorinated biphenyls, polyvinyl chloride and some flame retarders joked, as well as asbestos and arsenic. (Nordic Council of Ministers, 1995).

Cadmium

It is known that in printed circuit plates, the cadmium is present in certain components, such as SMD chips resistances, semiconductors and presence detectors. Older cathode ray tubes contain cadmium. In addition, cadmium has been used as a PVC stabilizer. More than 90% is found in rechargeable batteries.

Lead

Considering all lead applications (processed/consumed), between 1.5% and 2.5% are used in electronic devices. It can be found in more than 90% in batteries, with small contributions by welds, lamps and fluorescent tubes. An electric lamp contains 0.3 e 1 g of lead in welding and 0.5 to 1 g of lead silicates in glass.

Lead oxide

It is used in TRC glass (cathode ray tubes) – about 80% while the rest comes from lamps and fluorescent tubes. Cathode ray tubes of a personal computer can contain about 0.4 kg. of lead and a television contains about 2 kg. of lead.

Mercury

The global liberation of Mercury for the caused atmosphere is about 2000 to 3000 tons per year .It is estimated that 22% of the mercury consumed annually to the world level is used in electronic and electrical devices (RAEE)- More than 90% of the RAEE mercury comes from batteries and position sensors with a small contribution by the relaysand fluorescent tubes.

Barium

Bario is a silver metal used in the front panels of cathode ray tubes, to protect radiation users. Studies have shown that barium exhibitions have caused the increase and hardening of the brain, muscle weakness, damage to the heart and liver (The Basel Action Network (BAN), Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, 2002)

According to the initial report of the Commission of the European Community (2000), all electrical, electronic and computer waste, with industrial and domestic origin for the whole of Europe, was of the order of 3.5 million tons. The volume of this waste grows three times faster than the average of urban waste, at least at a rate of 3% to 5% per year. This means an increase between 16% and 28% within five years and, therefore, which will be doubled in just twelve years.

In France, estimate that in 2000, 1.5 million tons of electrical and electronic devices were generated, the annual growth being about 3 à 5% (Ademe, 2001). More than 50 % of the waste generated were from residences (13 kg./hab. By year).

The ‘Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia’ report made in February 2002 by the BAN (Basel Action Network) and SVTC (Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition) groups, supported by Greenpeace China, toxics link India and Scope from Pakistan,They bring complaints from where they affirm that 80% of the waste of electronic devices generated in the United States are exported for China, Pakistan and India to be recycled, where the tasks were performed in poor environmental conditions and without any precaution to the health of the health of theworkers. Concern about the risk of transfer of electronic waste by developed countries to developing countries was subject to observation and recommendation in a session of the 2002/06/EC Directive project:

‘Encourage the reuse of devices is very positive. Still, the RAEE risks will be discarded in countries that are not part of the European Community, by way of reuse is not a fantasy. This is why Member States must take care of only electrical and electronic equipment susceptible to use are exported to the EU countries and that they are effectively reused ’.

This is a real concern because developing countries generally have political fragile terms of the disposition of urban waste and hazardous materials and on the other hand now developed countries have restrictive policies, with raee collection goals, with cost for producers.

The most obvious environmental aspect of the problem is manifested through its waste, due to environmental pollution and human health. The discussion goes further and must necessarily go through the issue of voracious and unsustainable consumption, due to the waste of non -renewable natural resources and the energy consumed in its production. The electronic industry sector is what most exemplifies unsustainable development.

The confrontation of the problem must go to the discussion of their waste, of its collection of recycling techniques. There are also all sectors of society that are directly involved in the problem: productive sector, policy formulators, consumers, recyclers, merchants and repair technicians.

On the other hand, the formulation of policies with the purpose of confronting the problem, will only happen when society understands that this is an important issue. That is directly related to their awareness about the dire consequences of all that technological advance. This awareness depends on information and knowledge production with broad dissemination of information on what has already been developed in other countries, which are in a more advanced stage in relation to policies, experiences and studies.