HESO 449: Ecohealth SDS

Here is a report which looks at the socio-economic implications of e-waste in Ghana: http://www.oeko.de/oekodoc/1057/2010-105-en.pdf
Its goal is to “explore opportunities for linking the informal sector with international enterprises for sustainable resource efficiency and improved social and environmental standards.”
It looks at potentials for social and environmental improvement via training interventions at customs and more. We can look at it as an example of what a study of potential interventions could look like (assignment 3). It’s not specific to ecohealth, but still worth a skim 🙂

And here’s more general information on e-waste (maps, etc): http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/electronics/the-e-waste-problem/where-does-e-waste-end-up/

The issue of e-dumping surprisingly reminded me of other issues in society, namely endemics like cardiovascular disease. Yes, it seems unrelated, but perhaps there are a number of parallels. E-dumping stems from a surge in globalization, where so many more people have access to the latest goods at an affordable price, and we have begun to see some drastic consequences of it. With respect to e-waste, this has prompted many countries to find band-aid solutions to overcome the problem of managing the sheer volume of e-waste, and this clearly is heading down an unsustainable and dangerous path. With heart disease, ‘quick solutions’ like fad diets similarly can’t continue for long, and increased awareness of the issue have allowed people to see the benefit of swallowing the bitter pill: eating right and exercising. Instead of going into a long-winded ramble of heart disease, I’ll instead turn to what I believe can be a long-term solution for e-dumping: similarly promoting awareness of it in order to bring to light the concern of continuing along the path that we are on now. Such awareness is likely to put pressure on greater organizations, companies, or governments to set stricter laws regarding the regulation of e-waste; or in the case of China, perhaps stricter enforcement.

It’s clear from the film and website that Dena posted, such accumulation cannot continue indefinitely. The only problem is, what do we do with the waste itself? One way could be to perhaps manage the issue from the beginning; to have technology industries put protocols in place to have all old models returned to them, so that they can disassemble and re-use some parts, and safely manage remaining e-waste. This may help diffuse the volume of e-waste so that it isn’t as much of a torrent arriving at the docks of developing countries, but rather dealt with in (hopefully) manageable chunks by individual companies, and stricter national policies or laws could help to maintain this. In all though, as was mentioned in class, managing the issue from just one approach won’t solve the problem adequately, since we also have to consider both top-down and bottom-up approached that stop and reverse the damage to both the environment and to health that has already been caused.

I think that whoever is involved (not involved?) in the recycling or disposing of an electronic product is responsible. There are possibilities, like the recycling plant seen in the video in India, but not enough money is committed to getting those types of infrastructures in place. However, even more than those types of facilities is required, as seen in the video where there was still a huge problem with people burning electronics and digging through the piles themselves in India.

Thus, like Natasha pointed out, we have to consider both the top-down and bottom-up approach. The developed countries have to take responsibility for sending a lot of their e-waste to these developing countries and find ways either to recycle it where it was first disposed of or set up places elsewhere. I think developed countries should take the burden and recycle their own waste in their own country. Even without the e-waste from developed countries, I feel like developing countries have a lot of their own waste produced from electronics right in their own country already that they need figure out the best way to recycle and re-use.

Also, the design of the product should include more of a life cycle, which was brought up in class. A longer life cycle would be ideal so that people wouldn’t have to buy electronics so often. But there is also the problem of developing new versions of computers and such so fast that people always want the new thing. So, as a consumer, we should think about if we really need something new right away. Of course it’s always nice to have something new and these products are getting pushed in our face and are constantly being upgraded and changed. But I feel like consumerism is a part of the problem and e-waste isn’t really thought about when it comes to new technology. I didn’t know about this until we saw it in class.

I’ve been holding on to my computer for the past five years but so many things are broken and i’ve had to replace a couple things on it. Technology is so overwhelming sometimes!

Watching this video was the first time I’d heard of what’s really happening to our e-waste. I was horrified by the images of the boys in Ghana living in a dump with no water or plant life around. But then I thought, I shouldn’t really be surprised by this. If we ship off our everyday garbage to India, then e-waste is just another element of the unsustainable cycle.

I wonder what really happened to my laptop that crashed last year, and that I turned into the Apple store to recycle. It could have fairly easily been refurbished and resold, or was it easier for the company to send it off to some “recycling” program or simply put it in the dump?
If you visit and Apple store at any time during the week or weekend it is likely to be stuffed full of people checking out the latest, coolest device. So yes, I agree with Alcina and Natasha, that the problem begins with the quantity and quality of electronics being produced. Then there’s the problem of consumerism and of uninformed dumping of e-waste, and international habits of shipping problems off to the developing world to deal with at a cost to their health.

So if we were taught to share electronics instead of each having our own, and the companies invested more money in fixing existing electronics we could curb the huge amounts of electronics that are no longer wanted. We should change consumerism in general and stick to buying/swapping things that have already been used, thereby recycling things in our own communities. Finally, the items that will inevitably not be usable at some point, should have a regional recycling center where they can be processed.

Alcina and Siena mentioned a great point about how the attitudes of consumers need to change regarding how often they replace their electronics. Hand-in-hand with that thought, advertising of new gadgets plays upon qualities of human nature that I learned about in my cultural psychology class: those from Western, industrialized nations are more tempted to buy something (or donate, etc) based on their previous actions. For example: if Jon purchased an ipod and a new iphone comes out, advertisers will play up the fact that Jon endorses apple products and he will consequently feel more inclined to be consistent with his actions; thus it can be difficult for Jon to change his attitudes

On a different note, I came across this BBC news article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10846395
Rotterdam in the Netherlands is the largest port in Europe and it has stringent policies concerning the ban of e-waste export from Europe; they say that any container found with old electronics is sent back to the European country where it came from. But there is a flaw in the system: only 3% of the containers are actually checked! How can they have such policies in place- since the 1990s- and not hold true to them? How are they still considered to be ‘in the lead’ in the crack-down against e-waste? The article is a great case-study follow-up of the video and of the e-waste map posted in the first comment. It describes the import/export system having many ‘weak spots’ that, I assume, have accumulated to become something like a black hole in the system, a vortex of unanswered questions. I think that there is no one person or authority to blame, but is exactly a build-up of so many vulnerable points and loop-holes in the journey of an illegal shipment container. To see significant and sustainable change in the system, all of the flaws need to be rectified; more awareness of the issue needs to be raised, and a system should be in place that monitors the shipment, on both a community and a broader level.

Great responses everyone! Thanks Nadine for providing the background on the policies that have been in place and their shortcomings.
Like many of you, I was never aware of how big the e-waste recycling problem actually is and where do the recycled electronics end up.
I do agree with you guys that changing consumer’s perspective to buy less, buy used products or as Siena mentioned even sharing electronics may be some ways that could help in reducing electronic junks and thus alleviate the e-recycling issue to some extended. In order to accomplish this, one obvious solution would be to educate people and inform them about where their electronic waste ends up. For example, the younger generation ie perhaps those with desired for newest and most up to date electronics such as teenagers would serve as a great target audience. However, it is important to consider the other side as well. The less the consumer demand for electronic, the less the production and hence lowering employment rate. I think in general, today’s generation is very dependent on different forms of electronic from ipods and mpt3 players to digital ebook devices and the number of electronics owned by individuals is increasing at a rapid rate. I feel that each country should be responsible for safe management of their own e-waste and they should not dump their used product in developing countries such as India. I also think that a better enforcement of the laws regarding e-waste export / import is essential! I feel that consumer should also demand the use of less dangerous chemicals in the electronic production and a detailed description of the how the e-recycling of the product is done as a part of its life cycle.
Lastly, I found this video which talks about e-waste recycling problems and the associate health concerns in India:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JZey9GJQP0

Thanks gals for the informative responses! Like almost everyone else in the class, I too had very limited knowledge about this issue, especially the part about dumping of old electronics in third world countries and the ability to access all personal informations of previous users. That just freaks me out! This whole topic about e-wasting makes me think about where all my old electronics are at right now.
Although in theory it is a good idea to educate individuals and try to lower frequent purchases of new electronics products but in my opinion, considering the world we live in, this approach is merely impossible. Today, when a fifteen year old goes to school, s/he sees his/her classmates with the latest electronics such as cell phones, ipods, gaming systems, etc. thus s/he feels the need to get the latest products to fit in and feel like the rest of the crowd. Is this right? NO, but unfortunately this is reality. Now a days, when you get on the bus 4/5 people have either a backberry or an iphone and every year, these companies come up with newer products. Afew years ago, Fido launched the Motorola W233 which is a phone made partially from recycled materials which is much better for the environment, but still, this phone had absolutely no chance in competing with the iphones and blackberrys.
In addition, often times, companes that make electronics make them in a way in order for them to break down after some time so that consumers would be forced to buy new products.Personally, I have gone through quite a few cell phones because they always find a wat to break on me. There are also hard wares that require renewals. for instance, if you have an old computer from the 1990’s there isn’t much you can use it for now adays since companies make sure they come up with newer products to force people to buy them and so in in order to accompolish everyday tasks.
It is not only the producers’ fault however. Consumers also play big roles in the increase of e-waste as they wait weeks and months for new products to come out so that they can be at the top of their games.
I would say educating locals of the issue is key in the process f reduction of e-waste but it is still a merely impossible solution that would provide great results. If we want change, I would say we would need to see the change in capitalism first.
Hope everything made sense!
also here’s a website I found for recycling electronics in Vancouver in case some of you are interested :
http://www.era.ca/

I was shocked when I saw this video: I had absolutely no idea that this was happening. Then again, I had never really thought about where my old electronics went after I was done with them and I’m pretty sure a lot of other people are oblivious to this issue as well in our western society.

Coming from a generation of growing technology with younger generations following us, I believe it to be absolutely crucial for awareness campaigns to run through the communities in our very own Vancouver. Having such campaigns run through various middle school and high schools would be a sure-fire way to spread the word about e-waste and the harm it is doing to the environment and the people in many developing nations. It is the current generation in school that will be the major players in stopping such an issue in the future. By working from the ground up, we can then move to work the top down by demanding better recycling policies for e-waste locally before it can get shipped out. But that won’t be possible until we gather enough voices to speak out against the dumping of e-waste.

This video totally shocked me, but I’m surprised this issue never crossed my mind sooner. Living in times where society is dependent on electronics, as well as demanding a quick turnover on such items, the consequences should not be that surprising. However, as consumers we’ve been trained to be only concerned about our immediate need and not the long term consequences. I think it really comes down to attitudes for significant change to truly take place. We need to pull away from this consuming culture because it is killing our planet. Yet such a task is practically impossible in reality when we still depend on such a hierarchical system of power. So what can be some relevant solutions that can be implemented in the short term? I would think a system of incentives for the organizations responsible for the e-waste and policy enforcement at the government and corporate level to be implemented.

Like the video mentioned, there really isn’t a reason for companies to recycle (at least in relation to generating profits). But perhaps if they are held accountable at the manufacturer level (such as the life cycle model) then we may see a noticeable change in the amount of waste produced.

This video has made me conscious of where my electronics will end up once I’m done with them. I will definitely look into tracking where they go. I took a brief moment to look at the website Elina posted about the Canadian based e-recycling company, and they seem to offer a locating service. I wonder how legitimate the company is (I found some spelling mistakes on the website haha), or even how many businesses of the sort exist. Great video, and I appreciate the comments made so far. Thanks girls!

Watching this video reminded me of something else I saw about a year ago.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/06/60minutes/main4579229.shtml

This story follows america’s toxic e-wastes to a small town called Guiyu in china. This town is piled up with e-wastes full of lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, and polyvinyl chlorides. Seven out of the ten children in this town have excessive lead in their blood. Scientists have studied the area and discovered that Guiyu has the highest levels of cancer-causing dioxins in the world.

I know in Vancouver, we are especially big on recycling. It’s heart wrenching to see what’s happening to our good intentions. I agree with Nisa that each country should move towards a system where they manage their own e-waste. However, I’m not sure how applicable this will be. A number of people have the mentality that as long as it doesn’t affect us then it’s okay. Most of us before watching this video have no idea what is happening to our recycled electronics. I think the most important thing to do right now is to gain exposure with the help of the media. We can use the media to reveal the shocking secrets to the world and start interventions from there.