the impact of electronics on the environment quinton kenney

Quinton Kenney- 200225599

Technology Will Destroy our Planet: The Impact of Electronics on the Environment

How Technology Impacts our Environment

Production of Electronics:

• Habitat loss due to clearing of land to access resources.

• Emissions from equipment used during extraction of raw materials, production of the electronics and the transportation of the electronics.

• Untreated waste water discharge from plants producing electronics.


Use of Electronics:

• Energy use required of the product• By products of the product


E- Waste:• Illegal export of electronic waste to under

developed countries such as Ghana and parts of China.

• Plastics in electronics are burned off to reveal precious metals. The smoke from the plastic is harmful to humans and the environment.

• Runoff from electronic waste lands contaminate water sources.

Aspects of Technology Impacting the Environment

Metals:

• The extraction of metals is harmful to the environment as the raw materials are often located deep under an untouched piece of nature rich in wild life. The extraction process is often harmful as machinery is in and out of the site as well as the mining operations themselves.


Metals:

• Many metals used in electronics such as lead, iron, nickel, zinc, cadmium and many are toxic to human health as well as the environment.

• Batteries contain lead, nickel, cadmium and mercury. People tend o through out batteries in their normal garbage and they contaminate landfills with their heavy metals.


Plastic:

• The production of plastics require the extraction of oil. The extraction of oil disrupts species of the environment by the extraction process and the moving of machinery.

• Tailings ponds at certain oil refineries cause migratory birds to become ill as the birds land in them not knowing that harmful contaminants are in the ponds.

Responsibility for the Impacts on the Environment

Government Responsibility:

Currently there are very few regulations or laws in place to aid in the issue of electronic waste while there are laws pertaining to waste and the environment. This makes it difficult for North Americans to get rid of cheaply. This is why electronic waste is sent over seas where environmental policies are more relaxed.


Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is an organization that helps make people aware of electronic waste scams and to make sure that electronic waste is dealt with properly.


Manufacturer Responsibility:

• Many manufacturing companies will not take responsibility for the impact of their product once it is out of their hands as for the cost and effort required to retrieve the items.

• Although many manufacturers do not take responsibility for their products after the sale, there are some companies willing to take rseponsibility such as Samsung.


Manufacturer Responsibility:

Samsung takes responsibility of their products after the sale by providing locations to drop off out of commission products. Samsung then properly recycles what is collected and uses the raw materials in their products.


Consumer Responsibility:

• When it comes down to it, it is the consumer who has the overall choice to buy from an environmentally responsible company such as Samsung or any other company portraying environmental awareness.

What Can Be Done to Lessen the Impacts of Electronics to the

Environment

Awareness and Education:

It is important to make more people aware of how their electronics impact the environment, by understanding here the raw materials for the product are retrieved, how the product is manufactured and what happens to the product after it is disposed of.

What Can Be Done to Lessen the Impacts of Electronics to the Environment

Personal Choices:

Make personal choices to buy from environmentally aware companies and make sure your electronic waste is being recycled properly instead of being pawned off on another country to suffer from the impacts.

BibliographyEIA. (2013). Energy consumption in homes by end use. Retrieved from http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=10271

Geep. (n.d.) The Responsible Alternative. Retrieved from http://www.geepglobal.com/Service/CommodityAnalysisSale.aspx

Riebel, P. (2011). Five environmental impacts of electronic communications. Retrieved from http://www.risiinfo.com/techchannels/environment/The-environmental-impacts-of-electronic-communications.html

SAMSUNG.(n.d.). Global Compliance Scheme. Retrieved from http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/sustainability/environment/takebackrecycling/takebackrecyclingprograms.html

UNEP. (n.d.). Anticipating the Environmental Effect of Technology. Retrieved from http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/publications/integrative/enta/aeet/index.asp