This figure appears to be growing at 5% per annum leading to over 1.5 million tonnes per annum by the year 2008. Of the total waste, over 250,000 tonnes is designated as IT equipment and at present only 50,000 tonnes is sent for recycling.
Electrical and Electronic products are likely to contain some or all of the following: printed circuit boards, cables, wiring, plastics containing flame retardants, mercury switches and breakers, display equipment such as cathode ray tubes and liquid crystal displays, batteries and accumulators, light generating devices, data storage media, capacitors, resistors and relays, sensors and connectors.
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Today, more than 90% of WEEE is landfilled, incinerated or recovered without any pre-treatment. |
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This leads to a considerable input of hazardous materials into the disposal and recovery routes. |
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Incineration of WEEE produces |
| - emissions from mercury and cadmium | |
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- extremely toxic dioxins and furans | |
| - negative energy output from Cathode Ray Tubes | |
| - high concentrations of heavy metals in the slag, flue gas or filter cake | |
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Landfill of WEEE promotes negative environmental effects |
| - leaching and evaporation of hazardous substances e.g. mercury, cadmium and lead | |
| - vaporisation of metallic mercury, dioxins and furans |
Mercury - from batteries, switches and PCB's, can leech into the water supply where it is transformed into methylated mercury in the bottom sediments. In this form it easily accumulates in living organisms and concentrates through the food chain particularly via fish. Methylated mercury causes chronic brain damage.
Cadmium - from CRT's, resistors, and semiconductors, can be absorbed by respiration and food, accumulating in the kidneys and causing poisoning.
Lead - from solder on the PCB's and glass panels in CRT's, can cause damage to the central nervous system, blood system and kidneys.
PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) - from cabling and monitor housings, contaminates other plastics in the recycling process and when burnt generates dioxins and furans. Studies in the USA have identified Dioxin as one of the most toxic chemicals known with the following health related effects:
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Sperm count in men has dropped to 50% of what it was 50 years ago |
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The incidence of testicular cancer has tripled in the last 50 years and prostrate cancer has doubled |
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Endometriosis - the painful growth outside the uterus cells that normally line the uterus- which was formally a rare condition, now afflicts 5 million women in America |
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In 1960, a woman's chance of developing breast cancer was one in twenty. It is now one in eight |
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Global effects |
| -Global warming - increased carbon dioxide prevents heat from escaping into the universe | |
| - Ozone depletion - mostly from CFCs (Chloroflourocarbon) and HCFC's (Hydrochloroflourocarbon). Both contain chlorine and thus deplete stratospheric ozone allowing more heat from the sun to enter our atmosphere from harmful increased UVB levels. | |
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Regional effects - acidification, nutrient enrichment and smog creation |
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Local effects - waste generation, human toxicity and eco-toxicity |
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