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