Electronic Waste

Sei Tanghui

July20, 2009

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Outline

• Questions relevant to electronic waste

• Relevant arguments• Conclusion• Q&A

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• How many mobile phones did you use?

• How many computers did you use?• Ipod/mp3/mp4?• Cameras?• Television sets?

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How did you deal with your old cell phones?

old computers?old ipod/mp3/mp4?

old cameras?

old television sets?

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What’s electronic waste?

Electronic items being sold, donated,or discarded by their original owners

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Arguments

•Positive side •Negative sidea)Electric items are convenience

a) Public healtha)Electric items are convenience

a) Public health

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Positive sideElectronic items satisfy our day to day life.

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Negative side• Public health concerns

– Toxic substances • Lead• Mercury• cadmium

– Carcinogenic substances • polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

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Arguments

•Positive side •Negative sidea)Electric items are convenience

b) Basel convention

a) Public health

b) Illegal dumpb) Basel convention b) Illegal dump

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Positive sideBasel convention gets E-waste under control between country and country.

Regulation Regulation

Regulation

If a country exports E-waste, it needsbilateral agreement.

Taiwan

China JapanE-waste

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Negative side

E-waste in developed countries/areas

Developing Countries/areas

Illegally dump in to

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Arguments

•Positive side •Negative sidea)Electric items are convenience

b) Basel convention

c) Recyclable Resources

a) Public health

b) Illegal dump for advancing countriesor areas

c) Feasibilityc) Recyclable Resources

c) Feasibility

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Positive side

Electronic waste is an artificial mine!

Heavy metals

Au

Fe Cu

Ag

Rare metals

TaNiLi

Rare earthelements

LaY

Sc

E-waste contains many metals.

- rarity value- base metal

- unevenly distributed- essential for electronic items

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Negative side• Is recycle feasible?

– Only 2% e-waste in the landfills

– 75% in the garages or the desk drawers

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Conclusion• Can we stop using electronic items?

• Take care of them & Use as longer as you could

• New policy for recycle(international) We should recycle among small area as if a

village. (East Asia, North America, East Europe etc)

transportation costs, policy ・・・

• New technology of recycle • Environmentally Benign Manufacturing (EBM)

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Questions ?

Comments?

Concerns?