e-Waste Recycling
E-Waste recycling has become an industry in and of itself, with electronics recycling firms totaling roughly 1,200 generated close to $3 billion in revenue last year.
This is in large part due to the proliferation of new technology that improves television picture clarity, and offers viewers new thresholds of resolution. These advancements in technology have not only driven forward incredible new ways to watch our favorite movies and television shows, but they’ve also created an epidemic waste disposal issue.
E-waste is defined as any type of electronic that may contain a harmful level of lead, mercury or cadmium. Each of these three materials can have a profound detrimental impact on the environment, species that inhabit areas nearby where dumping takes place, and can seep into water and soil, which would serve to poison and turn toxic these elements that are so crucial to life surrounding the dump site.
With the influx of new television technology, E-Waste volumes in the United States are set to surge something dramatically. If estimates of television purchases within the last two years are any indication, E-Waste levels could surge by as much as in multiples of four times greater than the current allotment in landfills within the next two years. This is a frightening estimate, considering the levels of dangerous and toxic materials in televisions, computer monitors, and other computer components and electronics.
Human exposures to environmental cadmium are primarily the result of the burning of fossil fuels and municipal wastes. However, there have been notable instances of toxicity as the result of long-term exposure to cadmium in contaminated food and water. In the decades leading up to World War II, Japanese mining operations contaminated the Jinzu River with cadmium and traces of other toxic metals. As a consequence, cadmium accumulated in the rice crops growing along the riverbanks downstream of the mines. The local agricultural communities consuming the contaminated rice developed and endured multiple diseases and health afflictions over the next several decades.
Mercury and most of its compounds are extremely toxic. In cases of spills involving mercury (such as from certain thermometers or fluorescent light bulbs) specific cleaning procedures are used to avoid toxic exposure. It can be inhaled and absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes, so containers of mercury are securely sealed to avoid spills and evaporation. Heating of mercury, or compounds of mercury that may decompose when heated, are always carried out with adequate ventilation in order to avoid exposure to mercury vapor.
Lead is a poisonous metal that can damage nervous connections (especially in young children) and cause blood and brain disorders. Because of its low reactivity and solubility, lead poisoning usually only occurs in cases when the lead is dispersed, like when sanding lead based paint, or long term exposure in the case of pewter tableware. Long term exposure to lead or its salts (especially soluble salts or the strong oxidant PbO2) can cause nephropathy, and colic-like abdominal pains. The effects of lead are the same whether it enters the body through breathing or swallowing. Lead can affect almost every organ and system in the body. The main target for lead toxicity is the nervous system, both in adults and children. Long-term exposure of adults can result in decreased performance in some tests that measure functions of the nervous system.
It’s important that E-Waste is recycled appropriately, and Guardian Self-Storage of Pocasset, MA and Franklin, MA can help. Visit their website today at GuardianSelf-Storage.com for more information about their electronics recycling programs.
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