Electronic waste in the world

For decades, the number of electronic devices has increased in most households worldwide. Today, a middle-class family has at least a stove, a refrigerator, a TV, a computer, and a cellphone. These machines are periodically replaced by new and improved models, generating impressive amounts of garbage. Electronic waste, different from the other kinds of residues, is particularly contaminant because of the materials used in its construction. A specific reuse process is necessary to give a second life to these artifacts. All this represents an ecological problem in the world. The rhythm of science development is amazing. A lot of people change their smartphones every year to buy the actual model. In fact, it does not happen just with phones but also with computers, TVs, consoles, etc. Discarding these kinds of devices at a great rate is an ecological problem because these contain substances that are dangerous for nature and humans. Some of the most common materials are lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and arsenic. All of these present any level of risk but elements like mercury and lead are highly toxic to the human body (carcinogenic). Although, there are norms like the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) that restrict the percentage of dangerous components used in the construction of electronic devices, it is not enough to control the current contamination level. Nevertheless, electronic waste contains materials that can be reused favorably and have a high financial value. It is the case of precious metals like gold, silver, copper, platinum, and palladium, but also an amount of iron, aluminum, and a wide variety of plastics. The reuse of all these materials could be a multimillionaire business, generating work opportunities and better utilization of natural resources. To make it real, it would be necessary not just a qualified labor force properly, but also to teach the general population that it is important to separate electronic garbage from the other. More than 50 million tons of e-waste were generated in 2019. In the same year, America produced 13. 1 million tons, but just 9. 4% had an adequate process of recollection and treatment. Not all this trash is just an amount of damaged articles, it is possible to fix some of these. Most of the e-trash from developed countries arrives at the ports of developing countries, such as Ghana. The content of giant containers is sold to the local merchants, intermediaries, restorers, and second-hand sellers. They select the products and classify them if it is possible to repair them or not. This large market supplies second-hand electronic merchandise to companies, offices, households, etc. On other matters, part of the equipment that arrives damaged ends up in local landfills and a large number of these are sent to Agbogbloshie (a suburb of Accra). In this place, men and children extract aluminum, copper and other metals using methods harmful to health and the environment. Then, the resources are delivered again to the factories in developed countries. Agbogbloshie, where thousands of people live, is the biggest e-waste dump in the world, and its reality is impressive. Besides being famous for the reputation of delinquency and degradation, the poorest people work burning the wires and other devices to extract the metals. Vapors pollute the air and after the earth and vegetables that are sold in the market. Obviously, this causes big health problems with high rates of cancer in the population. In conclusion, e-trash is a general problem that affects the world in different ways. Current norms and restrictions are not enough to control the enormous amount of this waste produced each year. Besides, the percentage of e-garbage with the correct treatment applied is too low. As consequence, more and more damaged devices arrive at the dumps contaminating the environment, or those are processed by people with a limited quality of life in developing countries using methods harmful to health. In general, people do not think about the effect that can cause themselves when they change their electronic instruments so often, but they should know that they are contributing to one of the biggest problems of the present.