Electronics Waste Recycling System - Assignment Example

Electronics Waste Recycling System Abstract This paper analyzes that the waste from electronic goods is the fastest growing component of the solid waste system. This is also set by the future predictions that this volume of e-waste is going to rise in developing countries in the next five years. In Saudi Arabia, recycling and waste management aimed to create more awareness in 2007 and presented different means about recycling the electronic waste. However, in 2012 ICC formed an electronic waste recycling plant which was the first in the Arab countries made in collaboration with EXITCOM. Introduction Electronic waste is also known as e-waste and is the fastest growing stream of waste worldwide and the disposal is subjected to be the biggest environmental concern in all major countries of the world. Every year, there is more than 50 million tons electronic waste which is dumped into dumpsites and landfills. Overall only about 15-20% percent of e-waste is recycled and the rest of it is dumped in developing countries. In the Middle East, only 5% of the total e-waste is recycled while the rest of it ends up in landfills. This research will assess the dilemmas, solution, and drawbacks of applying the e-waste recycling methods in Saudi Arabia in regard with the international experience. Background E-waste is a term which covers the state when an electronic or electrical appliance reaches the end of its life and turns into waste material. These can be cell phones, computers, washing machines, refrigerators, etc. made up of many different materials mainly steel, iron, plastics, and other non-ferrous metals. E-waste should be handled differently and it requires special techniques because they are made from expensive and valuable materials. E-waste recycling is established as an important sector throughout the world as it helps in recovering the materials of the waste which could be reused efficiently. E-waste recycling has become an increasing problem because there is a lack of recycling facilities, tough environmental regulations, and labor costs. This is why the rich countries export the e-waste to poor countries or landfill them (Wang, 2009). Techniques for recycling include e-waste burning and dissolution in acids with fewer measures to protect the environment and human health. Workers of e-waste recycling suffer from bad health effects by inhalation and skin contact. Workers, communities, and consumers are commonly exposed to the chemicals which contain electronics. The illegal dumping of the electronic wastes, incineration, and land-filling are all factors that contribute to the hazards to the environment. E-waste recycling workers have shown the increased levels of flame retardants in their blood which is from the exposure to contaminated indoor air. Exposure may also be on communities that are located in the areas of these plants if they are not regulated adequately. Most of the electronics industries in Middle East, North America, and Europe have outsourced the manufacturing and disposal to poorer countries. E-waste management is highly being uncontrolled which gives a negative effects on the environment and local communities. Development of the E-waste method Many countries have taken an initiative in order to control the problem of e-waste. The developed countries often send their electronic waste to developing countries mainly China, India, and Africa. This is because these countries don’t have any environmental protection laws that would prevent the imports and they have unskilled and uneducated cheap labor that is not even trained in the safe handling of the waste. Exports of these electronic waste materials are improper and thus many methods were introduced in order to control the e-waste materials. In China, there were regulations imposed which promoted the use of resources after recycling and monitoring the treatment of electronics in their end-of-life. Other countries of Asia have also legislated for the electronic waste or are still doing so. Other than legislation, there are also other methods that could be used for e-waste management and recycling. These methods were redesigning of the electronic components. The redesigning of the computer components would simplify the deconstruction process for the recycling industries (Managi, 2011). The other method which was applied was consumer education which focused on spreading the information about the handling and disposing off of the unwanted electronic devices. Promoting awareness amongst the consumers is an aspect which is the most important method of controlling and recycling waste material. Consumers should be motivated and encouraged to reuse the materials which are recycled in the industries. Recycling industries have been set in many countries which carry out the updated methods of e-waste management. These methods have been largely implemented in countries that are working towards the effective e-waste management techniques. The methods to recycle waste material include the updated methods of sorting. Automatic sorting processes would save the time to sort the materials and usage of recycled materials would become easier. Moreover, the methods also include the monitoring of the human and environmental hazards of the disposal sites surrounding the industry. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia didn’t develop the e-waste management systems until the 2007 (Allam, 2009). These methods have been developing in various other countries ever since then. Compare of the main features of recycling E-waste tools globally Around the world, there were different companies and movements being launched which covered the problem of electronic recycling. However in 2012, the International Computer Company (ICC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia that specializes in distribution of IT communications and solutions and is one of the leading companies of the country, made an announcement that they were forming a cooperation and partnership agreement with the global EXITCOM company which is known as the global company specialized in manufacturing of recycled electric and electronic products. EXITCOM KSA Company was to be formed as the first Arab company which would work on the recycling of electrical and electronic products. The agreement was presented and signed at the IERC-the international conference of the recycling of electrical and electronic products held in January 2012 in Austria. ICC was the only Arab participant in that meeting (Williams, 2012). The chairman of ICC was Dr. Basheer Aljabri and he reported that Saudi Arabia has to enter this field of recycling because of the awareness which has been spread across the citizens about the importance of this essential sector and the negative effects that the waste has on the humans and environment in the long run. The company continued to ensure an environmental compliance and in order to fulfill those efforts; they held series of strategic partnerships with important companies such as EXITCOM and other manufacturers of modern technological products that are successful and established in this field of environmental conservation. The chairman also added that this company will particularly seek to proactively raise awareness amongst the citizens about these environmental concerns in order to encourage other companies to join the green movement in order to preserve the environment. The Vice President of ICC, Akram Elyas, also pointed that the company is pleased to partner collaborate with the globally leading company EXITCOM in the sector of recycling electronic and electronic products in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was far behind the other developed countries in the sector of recycling of electronic wastes and products. The Saudi Kingdom has long suffered with the high volume of e-waste along with the other Arabian Gulf countries due to the increasing use of electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops, and others. It was also shown that the Kingdom produces more than 3 million tons of e-waste per year. It was further pointed out that the volume of electronic waste which is generated by mobiles, laptops, and other devices is expected to rise by 500 percent within the next decade in some major countries. This is why there is an urgent need to create awareness about the environmental harms in the region. Electronic waste now comprises of one of the largest sources of waste in the world, and there is a continuous increase in this rate. The increase rate is three times higher than other types of wastes and amongst them; this is the most dangerous form of waste which calls for high concern. It becomes even more dangerous to know that only 5 percent of the entire e-waste in the Middle East is actually recycled (Weinberg, Pellow, Schnaiberg, 2000). Thus, they believed that e-waste must be carefully treated as it contains toxic elements which may result in vapors and gases that can kill people. Electronic and electric wastes comprise of more than 40 elements including the most serious ones chromium, mercury, lead, and others. If these parts melt down, they turn into oxides and can be inhaled by the humans and environment directly leading to contamination of the surrounding environment and can also interfere in the food group by leaking into the soil. These highly toxic oxides must be treated carefully and shouldn’t be melting down on random places and should be deposited to places that are specific and licensed. The chief executive of the EXITCOM global also stressed that the ICC will play an essential role through this partnership because it has an excellent reputation and possesses a wide range of network distribution which covers all parts of the Saudi Kingdom. E-waste would include all the tools and equipments which we may use in daily lives like computers, accessories, equipments, wired or wireless communication devices, monitors, television sets, cameras, home appliances, batteries, adapters, and chargers etc. Thus, the biggest role in Saudi Arabia to bring out the e-waste recycling system was played by ICC. It also played a role in promoting the awareness and culture of computers and information technology in Saudi Arabia ever since it was founded. It also contributed in resettling some of the technological vocabularies through manufacturing branches, and provided integrated solutions, and served in the field of technical support. It also contributed in the National Initiative for Computer in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and information Technology. Thus, long after the other countries of the Europe, West, or Southeastern Asia had finished developing the e-waste recycling system, Saudi Arabia also finally contributed in building a plant and managing the e-waste (Hester & Harrison, 2009). Current dilemmas in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia set two goals which concerned the climate change and awareness of this issue. These goals were to ensure that the protection, preservation, and improvement of the environment are a major part of its basic law, and secondly that the law is taken as an integral part of all the development planning of all Saudi Arabia projects including agricultural, industrial, and architectural initiatives. The Saudi authorities have starting working really hard in order to endorse awareness of issues of climate changes and others but however, they have failed to implement this law. The information and communications technologies have increased its use dramatically in Saudi Arabia. This usage has shifted the awareness of the climate change to new heights. People are more aware of the sustainable development, climate change, and other environmental issues due to the advancement in the communications technologies. Moreover, climate change has an effect on the existing development challenges and vulnerabilities (Frumkin, 2010). Saudi Arabia has launched very few practical projects on the climate change and electronic waste management. The main dilemma that the country was facing was of the lack of awareness, legislation, and governmental stand for the establishment of e-waste recycling systems. But the recent increased use of the information and communications technologies enabled the awareness to be spread across widely about the environmental sustainability. People are becoming more aware of the electronic waste management, the recycling system as it has been developed in many other Asian countries, and the importance of environment and health hazards to be addressed. The Saudi community eventually started to use the growing advances in technologies and their society was gradually influenced by the conventional applications including blogs and videos. It stimulated a community which debated over the issues of climate change and raised their voices and concerns so that they could reach a wide audience. This was seen at the time of the floods that took over Jeddah city in 2009 November. There was also a global economic shutdown worldwide but Saudi Arab continued to be a profitable marker for the technological products and services. Saudi invested the most money on the information and communication infrastructure and upgrades (Zabin, 2012). This increase in technological products and services eventually increased the amount of the electronic waste. In all other countries, this problem has been or is being tackled successfully except Saudi Arabia. For many years, Saudi government and authorities had not been concerned about the recycling of the electronic waste but recently they have put up plants which would be handing the issue. In 2012, the ICC joined hands with the EXITCOM to set up an electronic recycling plant in Saudi Arabia. Solutions to promote the E-waste recycling movement In order to promote the e-waste recycling movement, the government has to take a few steps. The areas of cooperation which need to be concerned are awareness, status of e-waste; quantity and type, a legal framework, pilot projects, sustainable business solutions and infrastructure. Awareness is the most important aspect because when people will get to know about the hazards that these waste products bring, they would tend to use them more carefully and think before dumping. Through public opinion, people will get to know that where to dump the electronic waste and how to protect our environment and lives from these hazards. Along with this, the status of e-waste is very important to be considered when it is about promoting and spreading awareness across. A legal framework is also an important factor which must be applied for an effective solution of the problem. Legal framework is the most successful and efficient method of imposing the recycling of electronic waste. In Saudi Arabia, the laws are very strong which shows that this would limit the electronic waste amount and the way it is recycled. Pilot projects are a need in order to excel forward. Programs such as by the ICC will serve as boosters for the other companies to follow. Sustainable business solutions and infrastructure overall would provide solutions to e-waste recycling system (Wong, 2012). Drawbacks of applying the system There may be many drawbacks which are valid when the system will be implemented. Since the system is being applied so late, there will be a number of landfills and deposits which have to be cleaned at first. This would require a great number of machines and labor power that will work together and clear the areas where chances of environmental damage and human life loss are expected due to dumps (Zhang, 2011). Moreover, the recycling system needs educated and trained labor but there is lack of labor power in Arab countries. Thus, Saudi Arab will need to call in labor workers who are properly trained by professionals and educated enough in order to handle the system. If there is any fault or problem, and the workers mismanages it that could lead to more severe consequences. In the beginning there would be a lot of work because for years there has been no electronic waste recycling system in Saudi Arabia. Conclusion: Thus, the paper summarizes that electronic waste is a major part of the world’s problems nowadays and this problem can turn out to be a horrible one in the next few years if not controlled right now. Every individual must make efforts to play a part on saving the earth and the lives of our future generations. The toxics are harmful and can also lead to death straight away. Saudi Arabia has taken a step forward towards the electronic waste recycling system which was never seen in any Arab country before. With the increase in technology, there must be an increase in the number of recycling systems. References Allam, H. (2009). E-Waste Management Practices in the Arab Region. NY: CEDARE Frumkin, H. (2010). Environmental Health: From Global to Local. London: John Wiley & Sons Hester, R. & Harrison R. (2009). Electronic waste management. London: Royal Society of Chemistry Managi, S. (2011). Waste and Recycling: Theory and Empirics. London: Routledge Wang, F. (2009). Recycling- From E-Waste to Resources. NY: United Nations Environment Programme & United Nations University Weinberg, A., Pellow D., Schnaiberg A. (2000). Urban Recycling and the search for sustainable community development. Princeton University Press Williams, E. (2012). E-Waste Management: From Waste to Resource. London: Routledge Wong, M. (2012). Environmental Contamination: Health Risks and Ecological Restoration. London: CRC Press Zabin, S. (2012). Electronic Waste Disposal a Big Challenge. ArabNews Zhang, K. (2011). Recycling of Electronic Waste II: Proceedings of the Second Symposium. NY: John Wiley & Sons Read More