What are the effects of e-waste?

 E-waste just as space waste is becoming a head-aching concern not only for policy makers but populations at large, as electronic waste from all sorts of items ranging from computers and mobile phones, to household electronics like food processors, pressure, cookers or satellites orbiting Earth.

The effect of improper disposal of this E-waste on the environment has not been properly assessed and little is known about long term effect on populations. However, this issue poses a very real threat and danger to the global environment at all levels.

Air Pollution

A most common effect of E-waste reflects on air pollution. For example, many landfills in developing countries are invaded by a number of landfill scavengers who go through these landfills looking for improperly disposed electronics which includes wires from appliances, motors, etc. In order to make some income from recycling these wastes people burn the plastic on wires to get the copper which releases hydrocarbons into the air.

Water Pollution

When electronics containing heavy metals such as lead, barium, mercury, lithium found in mobile phone and computer batteries improperly disposed, the heavy metals leach through the soil to water reservoirs that eventually run back to the surface as streams or small ponds of contaminated water. Many communities depend on these bodies of water for drinking and bathing with the added risk of contracting disease from these water pools. Chemicals contamination can also result in the death of plants and animals that exist in the water, therefore, intake of this contaminated water by humans and land animals results in lead poisoning and other heavy metals that are carcinogenic.

Soil Pollution

Toxic heavy metals and chemicals from e-waste enter the “soil-crop-food-chain, as one of the most significant routes for heavy metals’ exposure to human health. These chemicals are not biodegradable and persist in the environment for long periods of time.

The dangers posed by improper disposal on the environment will ultimately impact human beings at a high cost of health effects which include birth defects such as, brain, heart, liver, kidney and skeletal system damage. Also, significant damage can be done to the nervous and reproductive systems of the human body. When computer monitors and other electronics are burned, they release cancer-producing dioxins which get into we breathe. In essence, improper disposal of e-waste not only affects the environment, but ultimately poses a grave danger to humans and livestock survival.

Recycling many of these materials decreases the need to mine and manufacture the amount of deadly toxins. Ultimately, proper disposal at designated collection points gives local governments the way of safely disposing of this dangerous electronic-waste.