A good e-waste regulation isn't for tomorrow...

We know from the other blogs that a good e-waste regulation isn't for tomorrow. Because of that, it is very easy for the industrialised countries, which produce a lot of e-waste, to move it to developing countries. Those poor and developing countries have to treat all the e-waste and, as we already know, the treatment of all our stuff can process big health and pollution problems. The Basel convention tries to do something against those big issues and the severe consequences of all that transport. You should also know that it isn't just e-waste, but also all kinds of other hazardous waste the developed countries transport to the developing ones. The Basel convention tries to do something against that. The 4 most important objectives of the Basel convention are

1) to treat the hazardous waste as closely as possible to the source

2) to help the developing countries to treat all the waste as environment-friendly as possible

3) to limit the quantity of all the dangerous substances and

4) as I already mentioned, to limit the transport between the countries in the world.

It is very unfortunate that a big country and world power as the US has signed but not ratified the convention. But in spite of that, I think that the Basel convention is a very good initiative in absence of a clear e-waste regulation. Almost all the countries in the world have signed and ratified it!

(Source: http://www.basel.int/)

Mathieu Delmulle

Four tips to avoid e-waste

I want to react on Matthias his second blog and want to say that I totally agree with his first sentence. In my opinion, you can also say that besides the government and business life, which try to minimise the e-waste, also private life can do a lot of things! I found a very good text on the internet, and in the text, the writer, Russel Morgan, gives tips and says what people and companies can do with their old PC's that are stored in an old attic room. The first thing you can do, says Morgan, is to donate them to people who really need your computer and can still use it. You just have to be careful that you wip your hard drive clean so that they can't find personal stuff. A second possibility is to recycle your PC with an independent company: on the Internet you definitely find your local computer recycler. The last tip that also refers to the blog of Matthias is to recycle with a manufacturer, because, as Matthias already said, they also see the big problems for the environment. HP is one of those companies. They have already recycled a lot of hardware and print cartridges. If we take a look on the web page of HP, we can indeed see that they do a lot of efforts for recycling and reusing!

(Source: http://www.smartbiz.com/article/articleprint/1525/-1/58)

Mathieu Delmulle

Problems and solutions of e-waste

In this blog I want to talk about the serious problems and the possible solutions of e-waste. As we can read in the other blogs, there is a lot of e-waste on our beautiful earth. Technical solutions are created, but we need a good regulation, a collecting system and the attention of every consumer before the technical solutions can be applied. To start the discussion about the big problem, I will give some shocking statistics about e-waste. In the USA, 2 % of all the detritus on landfills is e-waste. That is not much, you would think, but you should know that 70 % of heavy metals on those landfills come from those 2 % of dumped electronica. That is staggering! So what do we do as rich and developed countries? We transport all our waste to poor countries and from that moment, those developing countries (with few environment laws) have all the problems and pollution. E- waste is especially dangerous when you don’t treat it well: it is cancerogenic and very toxic!

(Source: http://www.dosomething.org/blog/chatterbox/shocking-reality-about-e-waste-recycling)

Mathieu Delmulle

A good 'second life'...

As a reaction on the blog of Matthias that dates of the second of November, I'd like to say that his statement in the last sentence is good, but not everything. My opinion is that an e-waste regulation would be great but that we, all the consumers and producers of cellphones, computers and Ipods, can do more than regulations can ever do. To prove my statement, I will start in my own family. In our kitchen, we have a cupboard where all our old and not longer used cellphones are placed in. The moment I opened that cupboard, I was a little bit surprised of everything which was in it: there were no more than 8 cellphones inside and all of them were in perfect working condition! Because nobody uses them anymore; you can call them e-waste. I thought about a good 'second life' for it and after some googling, I found a company where you can sell your old mobile phones. The company is called 'cell for cash'. On their web page you can , with a simple click on your keyboard, sell your old phone for a reasonable price. You put it in a box the company has sent you and after they have controlled the quality of the phone, you recover your money. Then it is the intention to sell your phone in developing countries. If it can't be sold anymore, the company offers you 'free recycling' for the phone, which is good for the environment.

The conclusion of the working of the company is that there are 2 advantages: you help the environment and it is good for your portfolio!

(Source: http://www.cellforcash.com/ )

Mathieu Delmulle

Nokia’s recycling programme

To prove that good things are already being done in order to prevent electronic equipment from becoming landfill, we’ll have a closer look at the way Nokia deals with mobile phones that aren’t used anymore.

The company offers people the opportunity to bring back their old mobile phones. To make all of this possible, they set up take back centres almost all over the world. A striking fact is that they accept mobile phones from every brand. These collected phones then follow a recycling programme, while Nokia makes sure that all used components are recyclable. This has become a source of raw materials.

I believe this is a very important signal Nokia gives. Especially because the company is a market leader and therefore has a lot of influence. This could encourage other producers of electronic equipment to focus more on the environment.

Jonas Dauwe

Sources:

http://ewasteguide.info/nokia-retrieve-old

http://www.topnews.in/recycling-ewaste-campaign-rolled-nokia-india-2105195

Future prospects of e-waste

The processing of electronic waste has become one of the biggest challenges in recent years. Although phrasing an exact prediction is very difficult, the consumption of electronic equipment will continue to rise without any doubt. According to a recent study implemented by Pike Research, the amount of e-waste we have to cope with will peak by 2015. Afterwards, we should be able to reduce the disadvantageous environmental effects thanks to a policy based on government regulation, initiatives by producers and consumer awareness. We already discussed the importance of the government and the producers in detail in this blog. But like Mathias already cited, consumers have to think ecological as well. How aware are people that their televisions and computers contain toxic elements? Who really thinks about the environment when buying a new cell phone? Everyone knows that glass should be separated from plastic, but who can tell what is classified as e-waste? According to experts it’s important to inform the public more about the danger the growing use of electronic goods causes in order to solve this problem.

Jonas Dauwe

Sources:

http://www.reportage-enviro.com/2010/05/consumer-awareness-crucial-in-solving-e-waste-problems/

http://www.pikeresearch.com/newsroom/global-e-waste-crisis-is-worsening-but-the-tide-will-turn-in-2015

Is an international cooperation against e-waste possible?

In this blog I would like to react on a few important remarks Seppe Bodequin made in the last paragraph of his blog ‘The export of e-waste’ on the one hand and in his previous blog ‘It is possible to decrease e-waste without regulation by governments’ on the other hand.  In my opinion it’s obvious that a severe regulation is a necessity because most of the companies’ first concern still is to make a profit. An international accepted committee that controls every economical agent seems to be an ideal solution. But is this idea realistic?

The United Nations already called attention to the growing amount of e-waste, but the organization doesn’t have the possibility to give a binding advice. I think that it would be a good idea to bring together a group of people specialized in e-waste. Those experts should be independent from any country or political trend. I don’t agree with the suggestion that this committee should be able to punish countries that don’t respect the existing regulation. All of this because a committee that is part of both the legislature and the judiciary won’t ever be accepted by most of the countries. I also doubt about the efficiency of a punishing system. In my view a rewarding program would motivate companies more to recycle e-waste.

Jonas Dauwe

Ecological consumption

E-waste isn’t a problem a problem which only governments or companies have to deal with. Consumers have to think ecological as well when they buy a new electronic product. Seppe Bodequin has shown us a good example of an environmental friendly television in his blog ‘Taking steps to decrease e-waste’, but unfortunately this television doesn’t belong to the cheapest models of the brand. Low prices and environmentally sound should go together in the future and according to Leo Hickman from The Guardian, consumer pressure is the only way to make the industry clean up their acts. When the manufacturers produce more ‘green’ products, the prices would decrease and these goods will become accessible for a larger public.

I think it’s nowadays unacceptable for firms to release products with a short life and polluting characteristics  and when I have to buy a new computer or mobile phone in the future, regardless the price and the technical capacity, the ecological aspect will be a major embodiment policy.3

Matthias Cierkens

(Sources:

http://shop.philips.be/store/rpeeub2c/nl_BE/DisplayHomePage

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/sep/11/laptop-most-eco-friendly-ethical)

 

Taking steps to decrease e-waste

In my opinion many producers are claiming to be ‘eco’ in their products without taking steps to a ‘greener product’. Nevertheless we have companies who really are investing in more ecological products, for example Phillips obtained the price of European Green TV 2010-2011. (Phillips, Green TV 2010-2011).
In 2006 Greenpeace outlined a quarterly report card aimed at scoring companies active in the electronics industry. The report card is part of the campaign against the use of toxic materials in electronic products, it is an example of how Greenpeace wants to decrease e-waste. The first year it wasn’t a great success at all and only Dell and Nokia achieved a respectable score. Only a few companies were following a green strategy in 2006, however, four years later we notice that Nokia and Dell have been the trendsetters of producers who are avoiding toxic materials.
For the moment Greenpeace is running another campaign aimed at the decline of greenhouse gases within the IT industry. IT providers such as Google, Facebook, etc. pretend to be able to reduce greenhouses gases by 15% from 2007 to 2020. On the other hand there is a need to make a difference between companies who are taking actions and those who aren’t.

The Guardian

Seppe Bodequin

The export of e-waste

After reading the first blog of Jonas Dauwe we can say that we already have an e-waste regulation in the European union, nevertheless we still have companies who are trying to export their e-waste problem to other countries. Since the European government has established those rules in the convention of Basel it is illegal to transport waste far away from home. A lot of countries, however, are still sending their rubbish to other regions, mostly to Asia.
Important to mention is that the United States don’t have a regulation like we have in Europe and therefore can transport their e-waste abroad legally. On the other hand in Europe we still have plenty of companies who successfully get rid of their e-waste in a foreign country due to lack of control.
In my opinion an organization who is able to check if every economical agent is respecting these regulation can help create a society who is responsible for his own e-waste. Furthermore this severe agent should have the power to punish those who aren’t. That way everybody will contribute to a recycling society even if they don’t want to.

Seppe Bodequin

Greenpeace

E-waste in Ghana

I share the vision of Jonas Dauwe’s blog ‘How efficient is the government policy?’. The European Union has a regulation about e-waste, but al lot of people don’t follow the rules.

Ghana for example is the destination number one for electronic refuse. Big boats transport containers, filled with old or broken televisions, computers and refrigerators, to the African country. These practices are illegal, but at the port of Antwerp there isn’t enough staff to check all the cargo.

Ghana signed an international law which obliges them to control the load, but they refuse to do it. Little children have to process the waste with their bare hands and the environment of the refuse-dumps gets polluted.

   

The western countries should take care of their own garbage instead of soiling Third World countries. These actions strengthen the economic and ecologic difference between Europe and Africa and this is not the way it should be.

Matthias Cierkens

(Sources:

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/waste_management/l21210_en.htm

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/video/video_index.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/jul/06/canada-africa

http://actua.canvas.be/vranckx/vranckx-0702-ons-vuil-in-afrika/

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/poisoning-the-poor-electroni/

http://www.danwatch.dk/index.php?id=54&option=com_content&task=view)

Hewlett Packard and their recycle program

Today, a lot of big companies and governments are aware of the existence of the e-waste and some of them try to diminish their clogging.

Hewlett Packard for example organizes a worldwide recycling program. They divided the e-waste in three categories: HP Inkjet or LaserJet cartridges, Hardware products and HP Large Format Banner/Media. For each type of product, the company has a special recycle system. They work also far-sighted because HP develops new printers who use 30% less energy than the older models and ink cartridges, made of 70% recycled plastic.

In my opinion, I think it’s a good initiative that the firms who produce products, which become e-waste, take responsibility to reuse the old goods. They know exactly what they utilized to make the products, so they have also the knowledge to recycle them. All the manufacturers of solar panels  or other high-technological goods should follow the strategy of HP, so the problem will decrease. But without governmental obligations, a lot of companies will look at their bank account and not at the environment.      

Matthias Cierkens

(Sources:

http://www.hp.com/canada/corporate/hp_info/environment/recycling/product-recycling.html

http://www.hp.com/canada/corporate/recycle/provincial.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/profile-hewlett-packard)

It is possible to decrease e-waste without regulation by governments

In this blog I want to react on the statement Matthias Cierkens wrote down in the last sentence of his first blog.
In contrast to his opinion I think it is possible to create a system in which e-waste will be reduced without a government who has to force a regulation. To explain my idea I use the example Umicore, a materials technology group who is following a sustainable vision. Specific part of the company is responsible for recycling materials which results in the biggest recycler of precious materials in the world. If you read their strategy you can find that ‘closing the loop’ a core part of the company which means they recycle products at the end of their life cycle. Umicore shows it is possible, however, to decrease the amount of e-waste without any interference of the local government.
I want to conclude that the recycling problem can disappear if companies would take the time to investigate if they are able to drive money out from the reduction of e-waste.

Seppe Bodequin

Umicore-recycling

Umicore-strategy

How efficient is the government policy?

Although some efforts are done to encourage reuse and recycle e-waste, there is still no general law, in spite of the growing production of electronic equipment and the health problem this may cause. In the US, there is no consensus about a federal law. Some States created their own regulation, but this is not always effective and sometimes even cofusing.
Europe tries to collect as many electronic waste as possible. these products are reused or recycled, making sure that those components that can harm human health, are processed well. However, recent studies showed that the policy used since 2003 is not very successful. Only one third is collected. illegal export of e-waste is still going on.
A third important producer of electronic equipment is China. in January 2011, the country will launch a new regulation to decrease e-waste and pollution.
It is clear that the government policy is not yet up-to-date and a uniform regulation seems necessary.

Jonas dauwe

Sources:

http://uanews.org/node/32631

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/rules.htm

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7159886.html

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/index_en.htm

Are solar panels the next e-waste?

We can find an illustration of extended producer responsibility in the related article, which shows us what to do at the end of the life cycle of solar panels.
A lot of people don’t think about the e-waste those photovoltaic systems generate, nevertheless this problem can be solved by creating some well organized companies which are aimed at the recycling of the materials used in the panels. Jennifer Woolwich founded her company PV Recycling which main objective is the recycling of solar panels. She works as an independent third party and guarantees that intellectual property of the producers won’t be put at risk. There are, however, companies such as Solarworld and Firstsolar who recycle their own products, more specific the panels they sold in the past.
Also the authorities contribute to a well organized industry for the recycling of photovoltaic systems. The government of the United States and the European Union are setting up a jurisdiction about the materials used in solar panels which will avoid hazardous waste disposed of in landfills.

Seppe Bodequin

The Guardian (are solar panels the next e-waste?)

What is e-waste?

The new technologies and developments have a lot of advances and make life easier, but there is also a dark side relied to computers, smart phones and flat televisions. The competition between the different constructors may lead to a bad situation for the people and the environment.

Manufacturers launch their new products, with bad capacities and a short life, too fast because they are scared that the other firms, their competitors, will develop an invention with the same functions and looks. Instead of  a good and reliable product, the clients get a short-life, environmental unfriendly product because after a few years, they have to buy a new one to replace their previous product which is already worn out or obsolete.

Without a good e-waste regulation the situation would become worse and the amount of electronic refuse would leap.   

Matthias Cierkens

(sources:

http://mansci.journal.informs.org/cgi/reprint/55/3/333

http://popupcity.net/2009/04/designing-new-yorks-e-waste-bin/)