E - Waste

     

In these days, the technology is very important in our life. We are all the time buying new cell phones, TVs, computers, printers, etc., and the technology companies market new products all the time. In consequence, the old products become obsolete and we have to throw them away but…. Have you ever thought what happened with all this electronic products that millions of people in the word throw away every day?  Well, the electronic waste (e waste) is one of the biggest environmental problems that affect the world. In the world around 50 million tons of e waste is generated every year. The big problem is that all this e waste contains toxic metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium that are extremely contaminating and they affect the environment. It could harm to the people who are exposed even at low levels, and the toxic components that are on landfills can contaminate groundwater, doing it undrinkable. A lot of this e waste is incinerated but it affects the atmosphere, some of it is reused but the old products are broken after a short period of use. Some of it is recycled but the people who work in the companies where the e waste is recycled, after a few years they get sick.  Many countries send all the e waste to Guiya of Guangdong Province in China or to Delhi in India. They are some of the biggest dumps in the world. E waste is a problem difficult to solve but not impossible. I think that all the technology companies should manufacture products with a longer live and use not toxic components. In my case I prefer not to buy devices that I really don’t need and I try to buy devices in companies that invest in researches about clean technology products.