Free Example of The Recycling of E-Waste Essay

Describe the recycling of e-waste in the industrialized and developing worlds. One of the largest concerns of recycling today is managing electronic waste (McDilda, 2007). This challenge is being faced by both developing and industrialized countries in the world. This is because e-waste includes anything with a battery or a plug and they are available in most parts of the world. McDilda (2007) says that while some of this equipment can be recycled or donated to a charity, much of it is obsolete or broken and they end up been categorized as e-waste.

In developed and industrialized countries they have enacted legislation to address the growing problem of e-waste and e-waste recycling. McDilda (2007) says that “an important concern with recycling of e-waste is that portions of waste that are generated in the United States are now shipped to China and India for recycling” (p.134). However this has huge transportation costs, financially and environmentally, hence these countries become overburdened by waste and citizens rally for stronger environmental laws. In some developed countries some electronic stores will take old materials fro recycling (McDilda, 2007). Most of the developing countries have not yet enacted the policies governing e-waste recycling. As a result most of e-waste products are not recycled and end up in dumping sites or landfills.

The e-waste recycling in industrialized countries like China is becoming a profitable business opportunity in which valuable materials can be recovered and reused as a favorable resource for economic development (Waldmann & Stocker, 2007). After the recycling process has been done studies show that 2.7% of the e-waste is pollutants including hazardous materials such as cadmium, mercury and lead. Waldmann & Stocker (2007) continue to say that in the current e-waste recycling the valuable components and materials of the appliances are extracted by manual disassembly and open incineration, while the remainder is dumped. This has resulted in health problems and deterioration of air, water and land quality.