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Running Head: TECH SAVERS
Tech Savers
Jenee Campa, Marissa Arnold, Tara Sygrove, Brittany Ferguson
Environmental Science Research Project
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Running Head: TECH SAVERS
Position
The mission of Tech Savers is to promote the responsible recycling of electronics. “Because we
care about your junk.” Our goal is to inform people about the ways they can recycle their old
electronic equipment. The recycling program that we recommend is Best Buy Recycle. We
encourage people to take advantage of Best Buy’s convenient recycling program. We encourage
people to recycle their old equipment, because we do not want to see e-waste end up at landfills
where it can cause harm to the environment and the people surrounding the landfill.
History of the Problem
The problem of electronic waste skyrocketed when the use of new technology became
more readily accessible. When cell phones were first introduced, the term "e-waste" had not
even existed. It was only when smart phones and other higher tech gadgets were invented that ewaste actually developed (“The E-waste Crisis”, 2008). People would buy a new phone and
throw away the old without properly disposing of it. This would result in old phones being piled
up in landfills causing harmful chemicals to excrete into the air (“The Impact of Ewaste”, 2009).
As the years went by, the amount of ewaste would increase, magnifying the health concerns.
Electronic waste first began appearing in landfills across the United States and in various
parts of Asia and Africa (Wooddell, 2008). According to the Environmental Protection Agency,
more than 4.6 million tons of ewaste ended up in US landfills in 2000. The toxic chemicals
found in these electronics can not only affect the land it is on, but impact the nearby communities
and the environment as well. In these landfills, unprotected workers and children would often
dismantle old computers and TVs in order to sell them for profit. This exposed people to the
toxins in the dumped electronics. This was very common in places like Nigeria, India, and China
(Wooddell, 2008). It was the discovery of these types of problems over the last couple of decades
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Running Head: TECH SAVERS
that motivated environmental agencies to help solve the electronic waste issue. Such
organizations like Electronic Recycling International and E-waste Harvesters are all key agencies
that help solve the e-waste problem.
Some corporations have even stepped in to try and solve this issue. Best Buy promotes a
responsible environmental system by requiring all recyclers retained by Best Buy to comply with
standards regarding the reuse, refurbishment or recycling of products collected through their
programs and destruction of waste generated from the recycling process. The recycling process
manages the material in a manner that minimizes environmental impacts for all equipment and
components that have reached their end or limit. Best Buy’s recycling program processes all hard
drives and similar data storage devices in a way that contributes all data unrecoverable. They
manage an environmental health and management system in order to evaluate risks in an
efficient, organized manner. Best Buy supports continual process improvement (Best Buy
Recycle, 2013). Best Buy is a huge cooperation that takes e-waste seriously.
Congress has also taken a step in the right direction by introducing the Responsible
Electronics Recycling Act, or RERA. The bill prohibits the exportation of toxic e-waste to
developing nations. It was introduced on July 24, 2013. Many environmental groups and
companies such as Best Buy and Apple support this groundbreaking bill as well as the new
Coalition for American Electronics Recycling (“Federal Legislation and Policy”, 2013). As far as
electronic recycling in America goes, the federal government does not have much involvement in
the process. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, if the federal government
deems certain electronics, such as CRT computer monitors or cell phones, as hazardous waste,
those electronics are subject to special handling requirements. The states are left up to regulating
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Running Head: TECH SAVERS
almost every other aspect of electronic recycling. California, known as a more environmentally
friendly state, bans all CRTS from state landfills (“Regulations/Standards,” 2012).
Causes of the Problem
As of today, millions of households all over the world have access to their own personal
computer. Most people have access to cell phones of their choice. According to the
Environmental Protection Agency, 438 million new consumer electronics were sold in 2009.
This showed that the globalization of the world market for technology was increasing at a much
faster rate than 10 years ago (“Statistics on Management,” 2012). With this rapid growth and
development in the product sector, millions of computers, televisions, and mobile devices are
also becoming obsolete more quickly. Due to this modern era of technology, people are
disposing of their old electronics for new products and appliances. Human mentality and
population growth are also key components to the causes of e-waste (“E-warriors: Causes of Ewaste). As the middle class grows, more people are able to afford the newer technology being
released, thus disposing of their older forms of technology. The growth of the population also
increases the number of individuals substituting those obsolete electronics for more advanced
technology. Again, these acts of substitution increase the amount of e-waste being disposed. 2.37
million tons of electronics were disposed of in 2009 and made ready for "End of Life"
Management (“Statistics on Management,” 2012). The “End of Life” Management is the
collection, reuse, recycling or disposal of waste. Yet only 25% of these tons were actually
collected for recycling. Often times, the leftover waste is sent to places like Asia and various
parts of Africa. Nigeria for example receives some of this junk and usually seventy-five percent
of it has "no economic value" (Carney, 2006). China, India, and Ghana are also known to be
some of the "dumping" places for the worlds electronic waste as well (Carroll, 2008). The
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Running Head: TECH SAVERS
governments of these countries are also at fault for this growing e-waste problem because they
fail to solve and bring resolution to this situation as well.
Consequences of the Problem
The growing piles of e-waste are stacking up each year, increasing by the millions as the years
tick by. Approximately 40 million metric tons of e-waste is produced globally each year and that
number is expected to grow significantly in the coming years (McAllister, 2013). Breaking down
that 40 million into categories, it is estimated that the amount of domestic television e-waste will
double, computer e-waste will increase by almost five times, and cell phones will increase 18
times (McAllister, 2013). The consequences of this out of control problem will result in
increased health concerns in certain poverty stricken countries that don’t have the proper funds to
combat the growing pile of waste and health concerns. Some of the most common health
consequences of e-waste to humans is poor digestive, neurological, respiratory, and bone
problems. Looking towards the future and the soaring health concerns of e-waste, the future of
the world could be severely tainted. These harmful toxins that are released are not only affecting
the soil we walk on, but the precious air we breathe. These toxins get released when ink
cartridges get absorbed into the atmosphere and fresh ground water (“Harmful Effects”).
Proposed Solution to the Problem
Something needs to be done about the e-waste crisis. Tech Savers goal is to inform
people about the ways that they can recycle their old electronic equipment. We will create a flyer
with information about programs such as Best Buy Recycle. The flyers will also have the Tech
Saver’s web address too. Our group will then share these flyers with family and friends and we
will also hand the flyers out at school, and at home as well. Our hope is that people will visit the
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Running Head: TECH SAVERS
website to learn more about e-waste and how they can recycle their electronics. We will also
create a brochure to inform people about our organization and what our overall mission is.
The Position of Those Who Oppose Us
Although recycling electronics can prevent dangerous toxins or carcinogens from being leaked
into the environment and has a positive impact in many ways, people are still opposed to it. A
reason people are opposed to computer recycling is because while valuable elements and
materials are reclaimed, the process can result in the release of other toxic byproducts into the
environment, through incineration (Johnson, 2009). Incineration is a waste treatment process that
involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. When the used
electronics are released or sold, sometimes they are put into dumps for potentially toxic waste.
This is considered a con for many people who are opposed to the recycling of electronics. If
recycled inaccurately, electronics can irritate the growing global environmental crisis (Johnson,
2009). When recycled correctly, the process is extremely beneficial. As long as people are
going to continue to use electronics, they might as well dispose of those electronics responsibly.
Tech Savers hopes to inform people of ways that they can properly recycle their old electronic
equipment.
Table
Computers
Televisions
Mobile
Devices
Management of Used and End-Of-Life Electronics in 2009
Ready for End-of-Life
Disposed
Collected for
Rate of Collection for
Management
(million of
Recycling
Recycling
(million of units)
units)
(million of units)
(by weight)
47.4
29.4
18
38%
27.2
22.7
4.6
17%
141
129
11.7
8%
(“Statistics on Management,” 2012)
References
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Running Head: TECH SAVERS
Best buy recycle. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Global-Promotions
Carney, L. (2006, December 19). Nigeria fears e-waste 'toxic legacy’. Retrieved from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6193625.stm
Carroll, C. (2008, January). High-tech trash. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com
The e-waste crisis introduction. (2008). Retrieved from http://e-stewards.org/the-ewaste-crisis/
Federal legislation and policy on e-waste . (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.electronicstakeback.com/promote-good-laws/federal-legislation/
Harmful effects caused by improper computer & electronic waste recycling. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://www.greencitizen.com/harmful_effects.php
The impact of e-waste. (2009, December 29). Retrieved from http://ewasteproject.blogspot.com
Johnson, S. (2009). The environmental pros and cons of using computer technology. Retrieved
from http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/the-pros-and-cons-of-computerrecycling-1056525.html
McAllister, L. (2013). The human and environmental effects of e-waste. Retrieved from
http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2013/e-waste.aspx
Regulations/standards. (2012, December 21). Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/
Statistics on the management of used and end-of-life electronics. (2012, November 14).
Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/ecycling/manage.htm
Wooddell, D. (2008, June 17). E-waste. Retrieved from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com