What are the problems facing a sustainable worldwide electronics industry?
I will examine all aspects in the product life cycle form the extraction of the raw material from the earth right through to re cycling. These aspects are:
- Mining of the resource to create your product.
- The industrial factor involved in the creation of your product.
- To create your industrial sector, you need to generate power
- Waste: there is always going to be waste. What will be done with it and where will it end up?
MINING IMPACT
Mining for resources has a serious impact on the global environment. Once something is mined it cannot be replaced. With mining, the problematic areas include the extraction, transportation and mineral processes. Transport around the mine and to the processing plant both impact on our environment. To transport these materials trucks, cleavers, spades, drags and wheelbarrows are needed which inevitably leads to superficial alteration. This is primarily caused by approach roads, holes, pits, and general preparation of the site.
Other typical problems associated with mining raw material are:
- Atmospheric dust from traffic, perforation and excavation on the site.
- Noise and emissions from the diesel equipment.
- Alteration of the soil, local vegetation, rivers, drains, cultural or historical resources and auriferous or pyretic water.
- Conflicts with other uses of the land.
- Mining has an impact on local water as the holes are often badly sealed or do not have suitable piping, which can allow exchange of pollution between the mine and the local water table.
-Mining also has an impact on the air. The atmospheric particles come from the blowing-up, excavation, movement of lands and transportation of the material. As a result wind erosion of the weak land becomes a major issue. Nitrates are also emitted due to explosions at the site.
INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Industry has a huge impact on the environment as it pollutes it in many different ways. Around the time forging of metals became commonplace, appears to be a key turning point in the creation of significant air pollution levels.
Air, water, noise, light, visual and thermal pollution as well as littering, soil and radioactive contamination are all different types of pollution caused by industry.
When producing your product every action has a reaction, and it is the environment that will suffer. Take Los Angeles the greater metropolitan area is home to nearly 12.9 million residents. The Chumash tribe of Native Americans have renamed the city of Los Angeles as “the valley of smoke” due to very high smog levels. This is caused by the city being very highly populated with loads of industry and the public being overly dependant on cars for transportation
POWER GENERATION
For the industry sector to work you need power. A good local example would be Ardnacrusha power station in County Clare. Even hydroelectric power stations are not perfect, the problem is thermal contamination. It is shown, that natural heat release from a water discharge is comparable with, and occasionally exceeds, the heat discharge of a thermal power station. Electricity generation in general is a major source of atmospheric emissions:
- The combustion of fuel releases energy.
- Most power plants burn fossil fuels to drive generators.
- Like most industrial processes, a power plant creates waste materials, producing a number of by-products including dust, ash particles and gasses.
- The waste materials which are difficult to collect or are of little use, must be monitored and controlled to avoid environmental impacts.
- These environmental impacts include sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
- In the UK, the carbon emissions from the power plants increased by nearly 30% in the past 8 years.
ELECTRONIC WASTE
Electronic waste is what you would imagine, obsolete or defective dumped electrical equipment. The dumping and processing of these materials have serious environmental and health implications. This is due to the presence of nasty compounds such as lead, cadmium and beryllium. Even in the developed world it is very hard to re-cycle or dispose of these materials safely and avoiding the leaching of heavy metals into the soil from landfills and incinerator ashes is a major issue.
Valuable elements are often referred to as commodities i.e. copper, steel etc. and the rest of the non value components are referred to as waste. The advent of low cost consumer electronics with planned obsolescence has led to a scourge of electronic waste in recent years. Increased regulation of electronic waste and concern over the environmental harm which can result from toxic electronic waste has raised disposal costs.
E WASTE recycling in the DEVELOPING WORLD
E waste recycling has led to unscrupulous traders sending this waste to the developing world to avoid expensive safe, re-cycling costs. China, Malaysia, India, Kenya, and various African countries would be hot spots for this type of activity. There is no shortage of raw material as the U.S. has no regulations as regards export of hazardous waste.
Uncontrolled burning, disassembly, and disposal can cause a variety of environmental problems such as groundwater contamination, atmospheric pollution, or even water pollution. This happens either as a result of primary discharge or due to surface runoff. There are also the consequences to the workers being directly exposed to the chemicals, solder smoke etc. With no protective equipment whatsoever available their health is at serious risk.
HOPE – A MORE REGULATED INDUSTRIAL WORLD
Governments are taking action:
- In Ireland a recycling charge is attached to all new electronic products. Free disposal is provided at any re-cycling centre in the country
- Many companies are now engaged in the E recycling business across Ireland e.g. Electronics Recycling in Finglas, Dublin. This company has the capacity to recycle 25,000 tonnes of electronic waste per annum
- EU legislation restricts the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electric equipment (Directive 2002/95/EC)
- Another directive promoting the collection and recycling of such equipment (Directive 2002/96/EC) has been in force since February 2003
- The directive also requires heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium and flame retardants such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to be substituted by safer alternatives.
Despite such rules on collection and recycling only one third of electrical and electronic waste in the European Union is reported as appropriately treated and the other two thirds are going to landfills and potentially to sub-standard treatment sites in or outside the European Union.
To combat this in December 2008 the European Commission proposed to set mandatory collection targets equal to 65% of the average weight of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market over the two previous years in each member state.
CONCLUSION
As can be seen from the points above there are many issues that need to be tackled and soon because it is our environment that is suffering.
Mining, industry and power generation are vital to our economic well being but must also be sustainable for future generations.
E waste must be disposed of in an eco friendly manner to prevent major damage to booth people and the world itself.
The situation is much better now than 10 years ago due to regulation and changes in attitude. We have a long way to go but hopefully we can get the job done
What are the problems facing a sustainable worldwide electronics industry?
I will examine all aspects in the product life cycle form the extraction of the raw material from the earth right through to re cycling. These aspects are:
- Mining of the resource to create your product.
- The industrial factor involved in the creation of your product.
- To create your industrial sector, you need to generate power
- Waste: there is always going to be waste. What will be done with it and where will it end up?
MINING IMPACT
Mining for resources has a serious impact on the global environment. Once something is mined it cannot be replaced. With mining, the problematic areas include the extraction, transportation and mineral processes. Transport around the mine and to the processing plant both impact on our environment. To transport these materials trucks, cleavers, spades, drags and wheelbarrows are needed which inevitably leads to superficial alteration. This is primarily caused by approach roads, holes, pits, and general preparation of the site.
Other typical problems associated with mining raw material are:
- Atmospheric dust from traffic, perforation and excavation on the site.
- Noise and emissions from the diesel equipment.
- Alteration of the soil, local vegetation, rivers, drains, cultural or historical resources and auriferous or pyretic water.
- Conflicts with other uses of the land.
- Mining has an impact on local water as the holes are often badly sealed or do not have suitable piping, which can allow exchange of pollution between the mine and the local water table.
Mining also has an impact on the air. The atmospheric particles come from the blowing-up, excavation, movement of lands and transportation of the material. As a result wind erosion of the weak land becomes a major issue. Nitrates are also emitted due to explosions at the site.
INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Industry has a huge impact on the environment as it pollutes it in many different ways. Around the time forging of metals became commonplace, appears to be a key turning point in the creation of significant air pollution levels.
Air, water, noise, light, visual and thermal pollution as well as littering, soil and radioactive contamination are all different types of pollution caused by industry.
When producing your product every action has a reaction, and it is the environment that will suffer. Take Los Angeles the greater metropolitan area is home to nearly 12.9 million residents. The Chumash tribe of Native Americans have renamed the city of Los Angeles as “the valley of smoke” due to very high smog levels. This is caused by the city being very highly populated with loads of industry and the public being overly dependant on cars for transportation
POWER GENERATION
For the industry sector to work you need power. A good local example would be Ardnacrusha power station in County Clare. Even hydroelectric power stations are not perfect, the problem is thermal contamination. It is shown, that natural heat release from a water discharge is comparable with, and occasionally exceeds, the heat discharge of a thermal power station. Electricity generation in general is a major source of atmospheric emissions:
- The combustion of fuel releases energy.
- Most power plants burn fossil fuels to drive generators.
- Like most industrial processes, a power plant creates waste materials, producing a number of by-products including dust, ash particles and gasses.
- The waste materials which are difficult to collect or are of little use, must be monitored and controlled to avoid environmental impacts.
- These environmental impacts include sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
- In the UK, the carbon emissions from the power plants increased by nearly 30% in the past 8 years.
ELECTRONIC WASTE
Electronic waste is what you would imagine, obsolete or defective dumped electrical equipment. The dumping and processing of these materials have serious environmental and health implications. This is due to the presence of nasty compounds such as lead, cadmium and beryllium. Even in the developed world it is very hard to re-cycle or dispose of these materials safely and avoiding the leaching of heavy metals into the soil from landfills and incinerator ashes is a major issue.
Valuable elements are often referred to as commodities i.e. copper, steel etc. and the rest of the non value components are referred to as waste. The advent of low cost consumer electronics with planned obsolescence has led to a scourge of electronic waste in recent years. Increased regulation of electronic waste and concern over the environmental harm which can result from toxic electronic waste has raised disposal costs.
E WASTE recycling in the DEVELOPING WORLD
E waste recycling has led to unscrupulous traders sending this waste to the developing world to avoid expensive safe, re-cycling costs. China, Malaysia, India, Kenya, and various African countries would be hot spots for this type of activity. There is no shortage of raw material as the U.S. has no regulations as regards export of hazardous waste.
Uncontrolled burning, disassembly, and disposal can cause a variety of environmental problems such as groundwater contamination, atmospheric pollution, or even water pollution. This happens either as a result of primary discharge or due to surface runoff. There are also the consequences to the workers being directly exposed to the chemicals, solder smoke etc. With no protective equipment whatsoever available their health is at serious risk.
HOPE – A MORE REGULATED INDUSTRIAL WORLD
Governments are taking action:
- In Ireland a recycling charge is attached to all new electronic products. Free disposal is provided at any re-cycling centre in the country
- Many companies are now engaged in the E recycling business across Ireland e.g. Electronics Recycling in Finglas, Dublin. This company has the capacity to recycle 25,000 tonnes of electronic waste per annum
- EU legislation restricts the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electric equipment (Directive 2002/95/EC)
- Another directive promoting the collection and recycling of such equipment (Directive 2002/96/EC) has been in force since February 2003
- The directive also requires heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium and flame retardants such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to be substituted by safer alternatives.
Despite such rules on collection and recycling only one third of electrical and electronic waste in the European Union is reported as appropriately treated and the other two thirds are going to landfills and potentially to sub-standard treatment sites in or outside the European Union.
To combat this in December 2008 the European Commission proposed to set mandatory collection targets equal to 65% of the average weight of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market over the two previous years in each member state.
CONCLUSION
As can be seen from the points above there are many issues that need to be tackled and soon because it is our environment that is suffering.
Mining, industry and power generation are vital to our economic well being but must also be sustainable for future generations.
E waste must be disposed of in an eco friendly manner to prevent major damage to booth people and the world itself.
The situation is much better now than 10 years ago due to regulation and changes in attitude. We have a long way to go but hopefully we can get the job done
