With rising individual buying power, consumption of IT, hardware, and electronic products are skyrocketing. This is resulting in a massive pileup of e-waste that calls for urgent remedial measures.
It is the improper disposal of e-waste that is causing an increase in toxic emissions and adversely affecting the environment.
Concerns about these toxins emanating out of unattended e-waste are forcing governments and vendors worldwide, to invest more in the e-waste market.
Existence of high-value recyclable materials in e-waste is further driving growth in the Global E-waste Recycling Market, and it is expecting to post a CAGR of 10.7 percent from 2015 to 2019.
Speaking about some alarming examples of E-waste accumulation, TechNavio Analysts observe:
The pollution caused by unmanaged dumping of e-waste has increased worldwide. For instance, Zhejiang in China is the largest area that dismantles and handles the e-waste.
The e-waste dismantling factory in Zhejiang dismantles about 2 million tons of e-waste per year. The samples of air from this province showed an increase in the presence of pollutants that would lead to DNA damage, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
Why Should We Fear E-waste?
- Old electronic equipment consists of materials such as heavy metals, the disposal of which is hazardous to the environment and human health.
- Computer equipment waste, disposed of in landfills, produces leachates, which eventually pollute the groundwater.
- Acids and sludge from smelting computer chips lead to soil acidification.
- E-waste landfills are exposed to uncontrolled fire, which aggravates the risks and dangers associated with the toxic metals and chemicals present in e-waste.
- Extremely toxic dioxins and furans are emitted from halogenated flame redundant products and PCB-containing condensers.
- Incineration of e-waste produces gases and toxic fumes, which pollute the surrounding air.
Recycling is the only available option to curb the environmental and health risks related to e-waste.
The Need to Mitigate Dangers in Handling E-waste
E-waste recycling companies have become more cautious about the increase in biological hazards involved in handling e-waste.
Handling e-waste constitutes dealing with heavy metals such as arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium VI, lead, mercury, and nickel. Halogenated compounds such as CFCs, PVC, PBB, PCB, and TBBA are also present in e-waste.
The workers involved in handling these chemicals are exposed to risks such as damage to the nervous system, cancer, deterioration of metabolism, and other similar serious biological effects.
Inducting Skilled Workforce
The e-waste disposal market is suffering from a shortage of labor due to its harmful effects.
And to this effect, one of the major trends observed in the market is an increased awareness of the need to prevent biological hazards.
Previously, the E-waste Recycling industry relied primarily on manual workers. However, with the advent of sophisticated e-waste recycling technologies, the demand for skilled workers has increased to support not only waste disposal, but also waste diversion using the latest technologies.
Sustainable planning and urban design, monitoring programs for e-waste disposal and reduction are some of the new activities in the field of e-waste recycling that requires skilled workers.
