Thursday, April 15, 2010

EnviroZine http://www.ec.gc.ca/envirozine/english/issues/33/print_version_e.cfm?page=feature1

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EnviroZine:  Environmnent Canada's On-line Newsmagazine

Mounting Concerns Over Electronic Waste

Mountain of computers in landfill.
Mountain of computers in landfill.

Electronics are being replaced every day with faster and smaller devices, and yet few are recycled after these products become obsolete. As a result, mountains of electronic waste are piling up in landfills across Canada.

Of even greater concern is that most electronic equipment contains toxic substances such as lead, cadmium and mercury. These heavy metals and other substances found in electronic products can pose elevated risks to human health and the environment if they are not properly managed.


Electronic waste can contain both toxic substances and recyclable materials. Photo: John Wlodarczyk
Electronic waste can contain both toxic substances and recyclable materials. Photo: John Wlodarczyk. Click to enlarge.

These products also contain valuable material such as aluminum, ferrous metals and copper that could be recycled. However, due to the shortage of electronic waste recycling facilities in Canada, very little is being recovered.

In response to the growing need to safely manage obsolete electronic equipment and promote product-focused resource recovery strategies, Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Industry Canada are working together with equipment brandowners, provinces, territories and other stakeholders to forge a national industry-led program to take back and properly recycle unwanted equipment.

How much e-waste is there?

Environment Canada commissioned two studies to estimate the amount of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos, and small home appliances disposed each year. The first study on Information Technology and Telecommunication Waste in Canada, released in October 2000, and the Baseline Study on End-of-Life Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Canada, released in June 2003, provide a better understanding of the magnitude of the e-waste problem in Canada. Combined, these studies reveal that disposed computer equipment, phones, audio-visual equipment and small household appliances account for more than 140 000 tonnes (or 4.5 kg per capita) of waste each year in Canada.

Producers Take Responsibility

Several major brandowners of electronic products have identified that they are committed to developing, financing and administering a Canada-wide program to divert e-waste from disposal by ensuring that it is properly recycled. This concept, commonly referred to as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), places the onus on producers to properly manage their products at the post-consumer stage. EPR has rapidly gained much popularity, both in Canada and other parts of the world, because it has a potential to stimulate producers to design longer-lasting, less hazardous, and more recyclable products. In Canada, EPR has already been applied to target a broad range of post-consumer product streams such as used oil, scrap tires, batteries, beverage containers and packaging.

The Canadian electronics industry established a not-for-profit organization known as Electronic Product Stewardship Canada (EPS Canada) to lead design and implementation of a national EPR program for e-waste, and liaise with Canadian governments and other stakeholders on this issue. The organization is composed of industry representatives from two industry associations, namely Information Technology Association of Canada and Electro-Federation Canada, and 16 major multi-national corporate funding partners.

EPS Canada plans to roll out the implementation of a national industry program over a five-year period, starting in 2004. Designed to encourage consumers to reuse and recycle their electronics, the program will initially target personal computers, laptops, printers and televisions. In time, the program will broaden in scope to include other types of electronic equipment.

Similar to other EPR programs, industry proposes to finance its national program by imposing environmental levies on their products. It is anticipated that consumers will be charged between $2 - 7 for laptops and printers, and $20 - 25 for televisions and personal computers.

To help ensure that hazardous wastes and recyclables are managed in an environmentally sound manner, Environment Canada is revising its existing Export and Import of Hazardous Waste Regulations and developing federal guidelines for managing end-of-life computer equipment. Combined, these tools will provide added measures to protect human health and the environment from hazardous waste and hazardous recyclable material streams, including electronics.

Computers for Schools refurbished computer. Photo: M. Blondin.
Computers for Schools refurbished computer. Photo: M. Blondin. Click to enlarge.

Refurbishing programs aimed at recycling electronic goods are gaining in popularity. Computers for Schools is just one of many programs that encourage reuse of older electronic products like computers. The Computer for Schools program reconditions donated equipment and distributes them free of charge to schools and libraries across Canada. Computers for Schools currently delivers over 340 refurbished computers per day. To date, it has refurbished over 426 000 computers.

E-waste and You

You can help to keep electronic products out of landfills by:

  1. Encouraging vendors and brand owners to subscribe to a take-back and recycling program for the electronic products they sell or make.
  2. Upgrading or repairing electronic products where feasible instead of replacing them with new ones.
  3. Donating your old equipment to a family member, friend or charitable organization.
  4. Checking with your municipality to learn about reuse, recycling and disposal options for electronics in your area.

Fast Facts

More than 140 000 tonnes of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos, and small home appliances accumulate in Canadian landfills each year. That's equivalent to the weight of about 28 000 adult African elephants or enough uncrushed electronic waste to fill up the Toronto Skydome every 15 years.

An estimated 4 750 tonnes of lead is contained in personal computers and televisions disposed each year in Canada.

By 2005, yearly disposal figures for personal computers alone will contain an estimated 4.5 tonnes of cadmium and 1.1 tonnes of mercury.

Exposure to high levels of lead, cadmium and mercury in the environment has been linked to adverse effects on human health and wildlife. This includes subtle neurobehavioural effects for lead, chronic kidney damage for cadmium, and sensory or neurological impairments for mercury.

Electronics contain valuable resources such as ferrous metals, aluminum, and copper, however most electronics are currently sent to landfill. In 1999, it is estimated that disposed personal computers alone contained 4 400 tonnes of ferrous metal, 3 050 tonnes of aluminum and 1 500 tonnes of copper.

Extended Producer Responsibility recognizes that brandowners and manufacturers are in the best position to control the longevity, content, and recyclability of the products they design and market.

Related Sites

National Office of Pollution Prevention

Transboundary Movement Branch

Extended Producer Responsibility & Stewardship

Computer for Schools

Electronic Product Stewardship Canada

Information Technology Association of Canada

Electro-Federation Canada

Related EnviroZine Articles

Out With The Old, In With The New...But Wait!

Stop Pollution Before it Starts

Pollutants in Your Neighbourhood

POPs - The Dirty Dozen

What are future concerns about landfills?

What do you do with old computers and the parts that are obsolete or just a few years old but lack the latest capabilities?

What to do with your old appliances?



URL: http://www.ec.gc.ca/envirozine/english/issues/33/print_version_e.cfm

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