One of the goose-bumping phrases from the excerpts of the Nobel winning work of Indian literature, ‘The Geetanjali’, composed and written by the legendary and iconic Indian writer/poet, Rabindranath Tagore,states that ‘I do not want to perish in this beautiful world’.His lights on this thought immaculately focus on the typical and the unrestrained human semblance towards the environment, their attachment with the Mother Nature,initiated since the day dawned for the human race. Perhaps the contrary lies in the much inevitable and cynic attitude of human civilizations towards a perceptual development, which has claimed environmental deteriorations in limine and reiterations.
Uncanny but true, Sir Isaac Newton’s theory of ‘every action has an equal and opposite reaction’ has impounding demonstrations in the wrath of expanding human civilizations since ages. Whether it is the abrupt erosions, the colossal avalanches, or the deplorable tsunamis; every catastrophe has an indirect involvement of a prelapsarian human innocence.Following the perpetual trends in the recent days, the surge for saving and utilizing time has embarked electrical and electronic gizmos –one of the aspects among other gargantuan achievements;to attain a pivotal point of dependence and reliance in day to day human life.
With technological innovations and increase in the speckled demands of modern day consumerism, the electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) industry is on a tremendous rise, which has consequently aggravated jettisoning of vintage and obsolete devices continuously, contributing to an enormous volume of an obsolescent equipment population – termed as electronic waste. These electronic wastes are the outcomes of a popularly increasing and culturally significant method of how we communicate, entertain ourselves and get information – and the speed with which we do so.
Various statistical surveys on the effects of electronic wastes on human beings reveal that disintegrated gadgets leave heavy amounts of harmful elements like mercury, lead, cadmium, brominated flame retardants etc. into the soil. These leaching chemicals massively pollute the fertility factor of a productive land, apparently endangering the crop harvests, their consumers, and the overall ecology. Moreover, incinerators release poisonous fumes and gases that are injurious to human and animal life. In addition, workers thralled in dilapidating these copious, though unwanted, wastes are exposed to perilous materials and inhalation of toxic gases through direct handling of discarded electronics.
A United Nations report on electronic goods’ usage estimates that within the next three years, the quantity of redundant electronics will heave a striking amount of 33%, engrossing a mammoth figure of 65.4 million metric tons globally by 2017. At this juncture, many countries have implemented the fundamentals of recycling e waste from the grass-root level, which alleviates the scope for a better re-usage of such dethroned valuable products. The United States of America alone contributes to a staggering 9.4 million tons of imperishable e wastes per year – cited at the peak position in terms of annual e waste redundancy, is comparatively higher than that of 7.3 million tons per year being excreted by the People’s Republic of China.
Though managing and recycling e-waste into valuable resources can apparently be considered an indomitable task, still a relegated and organized effort can change the overall slew that has been anticipated to pose a serious threat to our upcoming generations. As a matter of fact, collecting recyclable materials has been just the maiden step in a conduit of actions that spawns a host of environmental, financial and social returns. The key benefits to recycling e waste obtained by a nation can be stated as:
• Creating and securing more and more manufacturing jobs and inducing competitiveness in the international marketplace.
• Minimization of land filling and incineration.
• Mitigating energy exhaustion and pollution caused by withdrawal and dispensation of virgin materials and the manufacture of the products virtue of virgin materials.
• Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that result in global climatic alterations.
• Preserves natural resources like water, minerals and timber.
• Helps in environmental sustenance for future generations.
AUTHOR’S BIO Leon is an author and a content-marketing analyst at Swadesh Softwares Private Limited. His current works revolve around the unprecedented, ill effects of electronic waste redundancy in major cities of the world, especially America. Managing and recycling e-waste in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, Cambridge and other major cities has been his forte of writing in the recent past, acclaiming him a decree of enthusiasm and appreciations.
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