The journal article ‘Heavy Metals in soil at a waste electrical and electronic equipment processing area in China’ published in 2017 covers the proliferation of heavy metal pollution due to electronic waste [1].
The article noted that waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) contains heavy metals and organic substances, and the improper disposal of WEEE tends to contaminate surrounding environments. It concluded that the concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc in sampling locations around an electronic waste (e-waste) processing site increased over time with the integrated ecological risk indexes of heavy metals increasing from 394.10 in 2014 to 656.16 in the first half of 2015.
While the article does cover the increasing concentrations of heavy metals due to e-waste, I will supplement it with other articles and sources to detail just how global the problem is.
But first, where does e-waste come from? As the name suggests, it comes from electronic devices, and this links closely with the entertainment industry, with three billion people gaming on devices like phones or home consoles [2].
Figure 1. Metallic elements present in a smartphone [3]
Figure 1 shows how a single smartphone contains over a dozen unique metals. Consoles are similarly filled with metals like gold, copper, lead, nickel, zinc, lithium, cobalt, and cadmium [4]. While these metals are essential for the function and operation of these electronic entertainment devices, they are often disposed of improperly, leading to heavy metal pollution which has adverse impacts on the environment and human health. The UN notes that nearly 50 million tons of electronic waste are produced annually, with only 20% being recycled adequately as the rest is either improperly recycled or dumped in landfills [5].
Figure 2. Source and Sinks of E-Waste [6]
Beyond just China in the headline journal article, many other developing countries experience similar pollution problems due to the global scale of e-waste dumping. From Figure 2, most of the waste produced comes from developed richer nations like the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan and is shipped off to less developed nations to be disposed of. This is a huge problem as waste sent to developing countries like Ghana, Nigeria, Chile, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Colombia is noted as lacking the fully developed infrastructure and recycling management systems for dealing with e-waste [7].
Heavy metals have huge environmental impacts. In soils, excessive heavy metal levels are harmful to plant growth, as they cause oxidative stress in plants, damage cell structure by replacing defective elements with toxic heavy metals, and inhibit photosynthetic reactions [8]. Several studies have shown evidence of heavy metal pollution of soil from the disposal and recycling of electronic waste in various countries in Asia and Africa known for being e-waste dumping grounds [9].
Heavy metals also have immense stress on human health. Heavy metal toxicity can lower energy levels and damage functions of the brain, lungs, kidneys, liver, blood composition, and other important organs. This problem is compounded by long-term exposure which often leads to gradually progressing physical, muscular, and neurological degenerative processes like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and may even cause cancer [10].
So given the dangers of E-waste posts, why is it still dumped/improperly recycled in developing countries? Well, it serves as a livelihood and provides valuable materials to many impoverished nations. The e-waste sector is an important income source and livelihood for many, with 132,000 people in Nigeria alone informally employed in this sector [11]. Furthermore, E-waste is rich in materials and increasing demand for cheaper and low-cost raw materials has been noted as the driving motivator behind the surge in the illegal importation of e-waste into China [12].
The injustice is clear, with many rich developed nations enjoying the luxuries of electronic goods and dumping toxic waste in poorer regions. The impoverished communities trade environmental stability and health for the employment and income e-waste causes, trapping them in misery once the pollutive toll sets in.
While many of us are guilty of upgrading to the latest gadget/phone even while our existing ones are still functional, perhaps we should extend the life cycle of our devices, using them till they break. This will limit the amount of e-waste generated and reduce the pollution and environmental injustice caused by it.
– Lucian Taft Kimbrell
[1] Gu, W., Bai, J., Yao, H., Zhao, J., Zhuang, X., Huang, Q., Zhang, C., & Wang, J. W. (2017). Heavy metals in soil at a waste electrical and electronic equipment processing area in China. Waste Management & Research, 35(11), 1183–1191. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242×17725803
[2] https://abcnews.go.com/Business/video-game-companies-steps-tackle-environmental-issues/story?id=83943001
[3] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/this-visualization-breaks-down-the-metals-in-a-smartphone/
[4] https://news.mongabay.com/2022/10/playing-dangerously-the-environmental-impact-of-video-gaming-consoles/
[5] https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-report-time-seize-opportunity-tackle-challenge-e-waste
[6] https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/resources/updates/the-growing-environmental-risks-of-e-waste/
[7] https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/9/5302
[8] https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ras/9/0/9_271/_html/-char/en
[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8172693/
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4427717/
[11] https://www.ilo.org/sector/Resources/publications/WCMS_730910/lang–en/index.htm
[12] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jaco-Huisman/publication/236838729_Economic_conditions_for_formal_and_informal_recycling_of_e-waste_in_China/links/548041e90cf2ccc7f8bb4211/Economic-conditions-for-formal-and-informal-recycling-of-e-waste-in-China.pdf