10 Facts You Need to Know About E-Waste

Every year, tons of electronics are disposed of improperly, resulting in a serious and growing environmental issue. If you think it’s just a matter of throwing an old cell phone in the trash, think again.

Improper disposal of electronic devices, known as e-waste, brings negative impacts to the environment and human health. In this article, we will highlight 10 things you need to know about e-waste, from its definition to its environmental impacts.

Contents

1. 1 – Decomposition
2. 2 – The Scary Growth and the Statue of Liberty
3. 3 – Exporting Waste
4. 4 – E-Waste Cemeteries
5. 5 – A Problem Extending Beyond Earth
6. 6 – The Hidden Treasure
7. 7 – Sustainable Innovation
8. 8 – Bacteria Used in Recycling
9. 9 – Development Competitions
10. 10 – Modern Alchemy

1 – Decomposition

On average, your cell phone takes up to a thousand years to decompose naturally in a landfill.

This delay is precisely due to the large amount of materials present in these electronics, which, during the decomposition process, can release toxic substances into the environment.

2 – The Scary Growth and the Statue of Liberty

The volume of this type of waste increases every year in a way that’s hard to believe. In 2019 alone, over 50 million tons of e-waste were generated worldwide.

And it doesn’t stop there—statistics show that only 20% of this amount was recycled.

With this constant growth in waste generation, projections indicate that by 2025 we will be responsible for 60 million tons of e-waste.

To help you visualize this better, that amount is equivalent to 290,000 stacked Statue of Liberties.

3 – Exporting Waste

The challenge of managing e-waste is exacerbated by the concerning practice of developed countries illegally exporting their electronic waste to less-developed nations.

This unfair transfer not only overloads countries with less waste management capacity but also worsens environmental issues.

This reality highlights a deep inequality in the global management of e-waste, exposing vulnerable communities to significant dangers.

Receiving countries face soil and water contamination, as well as health risks for workers and local communities, often including children, who handle these wastes without protection.

This dynamic demonstrates a clear violation of environmental justice principles, disproportionately distributing the burden of technological advancement.

4 – E-Waste Cemeteries

In hidden regions around the world, vast lands have turned into electronic waste cemeteries. Places like Agbogbloshie in Ghana receive 40,000 tons of e-waste annually from developed countries, highlighting a major environmental and public health issue.

Improper recycling practices in these areas, such as burning wires to extract copper, release toxins that harm local communities, exposing them to significant health risks.

Such a scenario underscores the urgent need to adopt more sustainable and fair consumption and waste management practices, encouraging stricter regulations for e-waste export and better recycling methods.

By addressing these challenges, we promote not only environmental responsibility but also social justice, aiming to transform these devastated areas into examples of sustainable innovation.

5 – A Problem Extending Beyond Earth

The challenge of e-waste now extends beyond Earth’s confines, reaching outer space, where defunct satellites and rocket debris create a growing pile of waste around the planet.

These space waste remnants, relics of our technological era, are an increasing threat to the safety of future space missions and critical infrastructure that depends on space, such as global communications, weather forecasting, and navigation.

The accumulation of this debris heightens the danger of collisions with active satellites and spacecraft, potentially leading to catastrophic damage, jeopardizing essential services and national security.

In light of this troubling reality, the international scientific community is mobilized in the search for ingenious solutions.

New technologies, including robotic networks and spacecraft designed to remove large debris, are being developed.

These innovations aim not only to capture and remove debris from Earth’s orbit but also to redirect it to safe zones or bring it back to Earth, thus minimizing the risk of destructive impacts.

In addition to technological advancements, space debris management requires a review of current space exploration practices and a commitment to sustainability beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

This involves implementing strict international guidelines for the responsible launch of new satellites and proper management of those already in orbit, ensuring their safe decommissioning at the end of their life cycle.

6 – The Hidden Treasure

Who could imagine that in a pile of trash there could be some treasure?

Mountains of discarded electronics hide precious metals like gold, silver, copper, and platinum. Data shows that around 7% of the world’s gold is lost in e-waste.

This wealth, often ignored and discarded, not only represents a significant economic waste but also an environmental challenge.

Recycling these metals, in addition to being feasible, brings both environmental and economic benefits, reducing the demand for new resource extraction and its environmental impact.

7 – Sustainable Innovation

But not everything about this topic is tragic. There are already some companies, NGOs, and individuals working to transform this waste into something more.

One of the most creative approaches in this field is using glass from old monitors and TV screens in ceramic production.

This process not only diverts large amounts of glass from landfills but also offers a sustainable alternative for ceramic production, reducing the need for new material extraction.

Additionally, ashes from the incineration of printed circuit boards (PCBs) now serve as valuable additives in ceramics, providing unique and desirable properties to the final material.

The recovery of precious metals, such as gold and silver, provides a sustainable source of materials for the jewelry industry.

Moreover, recycled plastics from e-waste are being rethought and transformed into furniture and decorative accessories, showcasing the versatility and potential of these materials for new applications.

Experiments with the compression of shredded electronic circuits have resulted in the creation of “circuit fiberboard,” which is used in the production of furniture and decorative objects.

In the construction industry, e-waste particles, including glass and crushed metals, are being incorporated into concrete to improve its properties and reduce the use of virgin materials.

Meanwhile, insulating plastics extracted from e-waste are being transformed into thermal insulation materials, presenting sustainable solutions for modern buildings.

8 – Bacteria Used in Recycling

Scientific projects aiming to transform the extraction of materials from these electronics are also in development.

Researchers are turning to the innovative use of mining microorganisms to seek precious metals like gold and copper from e-waste.

This biotechnological approach uses bacteria and fungi capable of metabolizing chemical components from discarded devices, facilitating the recovery of metals in an environmentally sustainable manner.

This breakthrough not only benefits the environment but also offers an economic alternative for the recycling of precious metals, enhancing a more effective and cost-efficient management of electronic waste.

And this is just one of several ideas being developed to make e-waste easier to recycle and avoid even greater environmental problems.

9 – Development Competitions

To tackle the e-waste problem, global design innovation competitions are encouraging the creation of electronics that are easily recyclable, repairable, and dismantleable.

These initiatives aim to radically change the design of electronic devices, promoting solutions that align technological innovation with environmental responsibility and sustainability.

Designers, engineers, and inventors are challenged to present ideas that not only meet technological demands but also consider the environmental impact of electronic waste disposal.

The winners of these competitions stand out by designing devices that facilitate disassembly, use recyclable materials, and allow for easy component replacement, extending the product’s lifespan and reducing e-waste generation.

These innovative approaches encourage the industry to rethink production methods and adopt more sustainable practices.

10 – Modern Alchemy

Researchers have developed a revolutionary technique that turns e-waste into diamonds, using carbon from electronic waste and replicating the extreme conditions under which natural diamonds are formed.

This scientific breakthrough, reminiscent of modern alchemy, not only provides a creative solution to the e-waste management challenge but also transforms potentially harmful materials into valuable and sustainable resources.

Producing diamonds in this way illustrates an extraordinary fusion of technology and nature, opening new possibilities for e-waste recycling and highlighting the positive potential of technological innovations for the environment.

This progress not only exemplifies human creativity and innovation but also signals a shift toward more sustainable approaches to address the growing e-waste problem, offering hope for recycling methods that benefit both the planet and the economy.