Electronic Waste

By Jake McCrary

Overview

• What is electronic waste?

• Why is it a problem?

• What is being done about e-waste?

• Lead vs. Lead free

What is electronic waste?

• American definition– Anything with a PCB or slightly complicated

electronic components

• European– Anything with a plug

Electronic Waste

• More than 4.6 million tons of electronic waste (e-waste) was produced in the US in the year 2000 [Bhuie]

• In Europe, quantity of e-waste increases 3 to 5% a year [Bhuie]– 3 times larger growth than other waste growth

Why is e-waste becoming a big deal?

• Electronics are becoming more and more a part of everyday life

• Embedded systems are every place– Microwaves, printers, key fobs, cars,

appliances, cell phones

• Electronics becoming disposable• Cell phones

– Life span is about 1.5 years now– 130 million are retired a year– Over 500 million are stockpiled [Bhuie]

• Computers– 20 million retired a year– 240 million already stockpiled [Bhuie]

• Estimated that for every new cell phone or computer one becomes obsolete [Bhuie]

Why is e-waste becoming a big deal?

Why is it a problem?

• Hazardous materials found in electronics– Examples: Arsenic, Beryllium, Cadmium,

Nickel, Zinc, Antimony, Lead– Can cause damage to brain, lungs, and other

organs– Lead especially toxic to developing children

[Jackson]

Other Hazardous Materials

• Hazardous materials not only found in electronic components

• Toxins are found in the plastics– Brominated flame-retardants (BFR) added to

plastics to reduce chance of fire– Damage to sexual development and growth

attributed to some BFRs [Jackson]

What is being done?

• Recycling programs

• Many programs try to refurbish and sell old equipment

• Programs in place to mine precious metals from old equipment

Examples of Recycling

• Computer companies have started recycling programs– Some charge fee– Some give customers rebates on new products

• Cell Phone recycling– Largest programs are Verizon’s Hopeline and

Wireless Foundation’s Donate-a-Phone programs

Cell Phone vs. PC

• Cell phone recycling much more successful than PC– Costs 12 to 30 dollars to refurbish cell phones– Refurbished cell phone worth 40 to 50 dollars– 70% of cell phones refurbished [Bhuie]

• PC– 10% recycled– Costs 13 to 34 dollars– Lack of refurbished market [Bhuie]

Cost Comparison for Collecting and Processing of Cell Phone and PC

Cost (US $) Cell Phone PC

Collection 6.00 23.50

Transportation 0.35 0.43

Sorting - 3.50

Dismantling 0.03 2.75

Refining 0.32 7.87

Disposal of non-hazardous

0.01 0.83

Disposal of hazardous

0.03 5.00

Bhuie, A. K., O. A. Ogunseitan, et al. (2004).

Exporting Waste

• High cost of labor for recycling• Outsource to China

– Cheap labor– Laws are less strict

• City of Guiyu: e-waste hub of world– Drinking water has to be brought in [Johnston]– Horrible working conditions [Grossman]– Studies show problems in workers from

recycling [Grossman]

Guiyu

Natalie Behring, www.nataliebehring.com

Guiyu

Natalie Behring, www.nataliebehring.com

Guiyu

Natalie Behring, www.nataliebehring.com

China and E-waste

• There is a lot of money to be had processing electronic waste

• Chinese government trying to come up with system

• Laws have been passed

• Electronics companies taking some responsibility in making sure waste handled properly [Johnston]

UNICOR

• Poor conditions not only overseas

• Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) run electronic waste processing in prisons [Jackson]

• Workers are in unsafe environments [Jackson]

• Negatively affects legitimate recyclers by undercutting on price [Jackson]

Legitimate Recyclers

• Some take old equipment and pass on to schools and nonprofits

• Others mine for metals– 30 to 50% circuit is made of metal [Grossman]

• 950 e-waste processors in North America– 400 to 500 in the United States [Grossman]

• 700 million dollar industry in 2003 [Grossman]

• Estimated that by 2010 the industry will have $3.5 billion dollars in revenue [Grossman]

What about Europe?

• Two directives have been passed– Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

(WEEE) – Restrictions of the Use of Certain Hazardous

Substances (RoHS)

• Move responsibility of end of life impact to producer (“producer responsibility”) [Tetra Tech]

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

• Producers responsible for collection, treatment, and disposal of e-waste [Tetra Tech]

• Logos must be placed on products alerting customers not to throw away in normal trash

[Tetra Tech]

• Provide list of materials in products to recyclers

[Tetra Tech]

Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS)

• The name is fitting

• Restricts:– Lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium,

cadmium, and some brominated flame retardants [Tetra Tech]

– If there is no alternative you can use the above

• Every 4 years review to see if you can stop using restricted substance [Grossman]

RoHS

• Has a large impact on electronics [Mueller]

• Lead is used in practically everything

• Getting rid of lead clearly makes end of life better [Mueller]

• Yet some environmentalists are opposed to lead ban

Lead vs. Lead free

• SnAgCu is common replacement to SnPb• US EPA finds that SnAgCu has greater

environmental impact on:– Non-renewable resources– Energy use– Water Quality– Ozone depletion– Global Warming

• Per 1000 cc of solder, lead free uses an energy equivalent of 162 gallons more of gasoline [United States EPA]

Lead Free

• Increased environmental impact comes from material and process related issues [United States EPA; Mueller]

• Metals used are more costly to extract [Mueller]

• Melting point is higher which results in more energy use [Mueller]

• Tin based solders form whiskers [Mueller]

Why would anyone want to move to lead free?

• Improvements cannot be made to impact of lead at end of life

• Processes used to produce and use lead free solder could be improved

• Forcing lead free could force companies to come up with recycling friendly designs to reduce cost

Review

• Electronics are becoming more and more of part of everyday life

• New legislature is forcing electronic industry to pay attention to environmental impact

• It is unsure if such laws are beneficial

References• Tetra Tech. (2005). "Factsheet: WEEE and RoHS Directives." Retrieved 10/21, 2006, from

http://www.mdsmap.com/en/pdf/weee%20rohs%20directive%20factsheet.pdf.

• Bhuie, A. K., O. A. Ogunseitan, et al. (2004). Environmental and economic trade-offs in consumer electronic products recycling: a case study of cell phones and computers. Electronics and the Environment, 2004. Conference Record. 2004 IEEE International Symposium on, 10-13 May 2004, Page(s): 74 – 79

• Grossman, E. (2006). High tech trash: digital devices, hidden toxics, and human health. Washington, Island Press/Shearwater Books.

• Jackson, A. S., A. Shuman, et al. (2006). "Toxic Sweatshops: How UNICOR Prison Recycling Harms Workers, Communities, the Environment, and the Recycling Industry." Retrieved 10/22, 2006, from http://www.computertakeback.com/docUploads/ToxicSweatshops.pdf.

• Johnston, B. R. (2003). "The Political Ecology of Water: An Introduction " Capitalism, nature, socialism 14(3): 73 - 90.

• Mueller, J., H. Griese, et al. (2005). Transition to lead free soldering - a great change for a better understanding of materials and processes and green electronics.

• United States. Environmental Protection Agency. (2005). "Solders in electronics a life-cycle assessment." Retrieved 10/20, 2006, from http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/dfe/pubs/solder/lca/lfs-lca-final.pdf.