Digital Age:

We are living in digital age and sure that, current world cannot sustain without electronic gadgets and equipments to run its colorful show. Either, common individual or engineering facility, today’s life has entrenched with electronic tools and instruments. Devices like mobiles

phones, PDA,  music pods, laptop, monitors, consumer electronic products, mouse, batteries, printers, digital processing systems and etc., like all becomes vital devices for your personal life style. On the other hand, usage of electronic tools and instruments at manufacturing and engineering segment is infinite.

undoubtedly, Digital age revitalize global industrial revolution and bring tremendous growth.  However, In past 30 years, global e-waste and e-scrap stocks piling up at unimaginable volume and becoming one of the crucial issue to planet earth.

What’s E- Waste?

Have you ever thought, where your e-waste goes away or how it has been treated once trashed? Most of us surely could say, it will be recycled by cycling units. True.  Besides, other common methods like Landfill, Incineration, Export, and Reuse are very frequent procedures to handle the e-Waste.

Per US-Environment Protection Agency ( EPA ), 20 to 50 million metric tons of e-Waste disposed worldwide each year. Over 3.01 million tons of e-waste was disposed in 2008 in USA alone according to the EPA. only 430,000 tons or 13.6 % was recycled, according to EPA statistics. The rest was trashed – in landfills or incinerators.

Also EPA estimates that 29.9 million desktops and 12 million laptops were discarded in 2007. That’s over 112,000 computers discarded per day!. Just imagine the volume as how fast its growing.?! Incredible speed and quantity.!

My previous post – Nanotechnology, I have pointed that, evolving systems and technology should make use of the power of nanotech at enhanced way to handle and conquer the issues  of electronic scrape  to save planet earth.

According to the research and study, Asia and it’s sub continent region counties like China, India, Pakistan, and few African countries gather e-waste from all over the world and emerging as digital trashcan zone. Insane. To handle this issues at right manner, it looks there are no common hypothesis present globally to facilitate and navigate at right path since the practice still continues in many developing countries .

Though world green community organizations often points this issue and shows magnified alert still not reached the summit about the problem as expected. While considering secure and safe process, E-Waste handling has its own intricacy.

E-waste Export:

This is very crucial. Current study reveals that, developed counties major E-waste has been exported to developing countries. ( Mostly to China, India, Hong Kong, Africa ) At many times, this goes by illegal way. ( Web Courtesy by CBS news ).

While consider developing countries, the law procedures and system are not structured and not sufficient enough to protect individuals and to handle the issue  as required. This allows room for many invisible gray market players and brokers to manipulate and abuse unethically.

The following link shows global current and expected e-waste statistics. (Web Courtesy by Electronicstakeback) Oops..I Couldn’t visualize, how our planet earth will looks like, if we observe from space by year 2050.

To handle this growing monster issue, Certainly we need better system and powerful law procedures. Also, Consumers, Manufacturers and retailers all hands should be involved by considering social ethics, for clean and green future to save our planet earth.