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The Countries Producing the Most E-Waste

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What got us to where we are today with E-Waste? Well, it all starts in the 1920’s with the first ever consumer radios. Radios were some of the first mass-produced consumer electronics ever made, and they were very popular. But this kicked off the E-Waste problem. When your radio broke, there wasn’t any other option than to just throw them away. Technologically advanced E-Waste recycling places wouldn’t be a thing until around the 21st century, and the dangerous chemicals in E-Waste weren’t know about so nobody saw a problem in just trashing the electronics and dumping them in landfills. This problem skyrocketed when consumer televisions hit the scene in the 1950’s. All of a sudden, radios were out and the new, much heavier and filled with even more E-Waste TVs were in. Past this point, the history of E-Waste production is pretty much the same as the history of consumer electronics, until we get to where we are now, finally realizing how dangerous E-Waste really is.

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There has to be a lot of change to solve the issue of E-Waste dumping. For a start, to solve this, countries in Europe would have to search ships more thoroughly as they leave docks. Most E-Waste is illegally smuggled around the world to Europe, where it is then illegally shipped to developing countries through ships. If there were stricter checks for illegal goods on ships, a lot of E-Waste would never make it to landfill sites. Another solution to stop E-Waste dumping is to recycle your own E-Waste at E-Waste recycling businesses instead of throwing it away. There are many E-Waste recycling businesses around the world; I’m sure you have one near you. E-Waste recyclers take out the rare metals inside of devices safely and without causing environmental harm, and then send those metals back to the manufacturers to be used in future devices. E-Waste recycling is an environmentally safe, sustainable solution to E-Waste dumping.

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The environmental impacts of dumping E-Waste are catastrophic. Most E-Waste is dumped into landfills. This causes around 70% of all toxic waste. All of earth produces around 50 million tons of E-Waste every year. That’s like if you threw away 1000 laptops per second, or 5,753 smartphones. As a result, there are E-Waste dumps all around the world, most prevalently in developing countries. E-Waste contains toxic chemicals that cause climate change when burned, like polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers release CO2 when burned, causing climate change. These chemicals can also seep into the soil, permanently ruining the soil. On top of all of this, most E-Waste is illegally dumped in developing countries. Over 90% of E-Waste is disposed of this way. It’s obvious that we can’t keep disposing of our E-Waste this way.

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The human impacts of E-Waste dumping are very negative. A lot of E-Waste is illegally shipped to developing countries around the world, where it is then deconstructed for the valuable resources inside. The working conditions of the people in the developing countries deconstructing E-Waste are horrible. They get paid extremely small amounts of money (around $3 a day), because what they are doing is illegal so there is no reason to abide by any kind of minimum wage law. Deconstructing and disposing of E-Waste is extremely taxing on the environment. A lot of cancer causing chemicals are in E-Waste, along with other dangerous chemicals like mercury. In a town in China called Guiyu, there is a lot of E-Waste deconstruction. The people living in Guiyu have suffered extreme health issues like memory loss, decline in mental functioning, and an increased rate of miscarriages because of the toxic chemicals in E-Waste. But worse than just living in Guiyu, it is the most dangerous to be the workers. The workers have to deal with the same dangerous chemicals head-on in order to break open the E-Waste. These chemicals are attributed to the health issues previously listed, most likely in more severe forms.