In an age when laptops become outdated in a few years and cellphones seem to become obsolete in a few minutes, the problem of what to do with all our electronic castoffs is growing.
"Tech trash" is the fastest growing category of household waste in North America -- and the most toxic. Environment Canada says between 1992 and 2000, Canadians disposed of enough computers and monitors to fill 953 Olympic size swimming pools. It's estimated that about 98 per cent of our electronic castoffs get tossed in the garbage, where they eventually end up in our landfills or are incinerated.
There, the dangerous soup of heavy metals, battery acids and flame retardants they contain leach into our ground water or end up in our air.
Unfortunately for most Canadians, we don't have many choices about how to dispose of our electronic waste.
"Europe is really the leader in this area," says Clarissa Morawski, a consultant on the topic of waste diversion and the principal of CM Consulting.
"European Union countries have electronic directives, which provide rules for ensuring that -- for the most part -- electronic waste is diverted and the toxins removed and properly managed."
"In Canada, we have nothing like that," says Morawski.
Compounding the problem, says Heather Rogers, author of a book called "Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage," is an electronics industry that continues to manufacture products that are meant to be discarded when new innovations come along.
"Manufacturers are very reliant on this concept of planned obsolescence, of getting us to discard things that we use at an ever increasing pace," she tells Canada AM.
"It's a learned behaviour. The spectacle of the introduction of the iPhone really speaks about this. We have to be encouraged and this disposability is reinforced," she says.
End-of-life management
Some manufacturers, such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell, offer some take-back programs to recycle computers and printers, and rechargeable battery replacement programs. But other manufacturers have been slower to deal with the inevitable waste they create every time they devise a must-have gadget.
A consortium of 21 manufacturers, including Canon Canada, IBM Canada, have formed a not-for-profit organization called Electronics Product Stewardship Canada to devise a national industry program to deal with the waste.
They have outlined five areas they are working on to make their products more environmentally friendly: chemical management, energy efficiency, materials management, design for recycling, and product expandability.
One of the tactics EPS Canada is planning is establishing "environmental handling fees" to be charged to consumers which would then be redistributed to regional organizations to manage local recycling.
That approach may not win favour with consumers. Alberta just launched an Electronics Recycling Program that requires electronics stores to charge consumers an "environmental fee". Many consumers are angry with the fee, arguing it should be the manufacturers paying to have their products recycled, not them.
Morawski says there needs to be more provincial legislation on so-called "end-of-life management" of electronic waste. That legislation has been slow in coming but almost every province in Canada is beginning to implement systems to recover "e-waste."
For example, Saskatchewan has launched SWEEP Saskatchewan Waste Electronic Equipment Program), and has introduced legislation so that effective Feb. 1, 2007, sellers of if electronics are legally required to be part of a product management program approved by the Saskatchewan Government.
But, the bigger problem of how to properly dispose of the hazardous waste contained in our gadgets and electronic appliances continues.
Rogers says that at least 50 per cent of the computers tossed away in the U.S. get sent to China, India and other developing-world countries, where workers dismantle them for parts and for the metals.
While doing so, the workers can be exposed to a dangerous toxins and heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium that could threaten their health. What can't be resold is often burned or disposed of improperly, hurting the environment and further threatening the health of citizens.
In Canada, the federal government has signed the Basel Convention, an international treaty making it illegal to move hazardous waste out of Canada without a permit. Last year, a joint investigation by Environment Canada and Canada Border Services Agency seized 50 containers loaded with about 500,000 kilograms of "e-waste." But it remains unclear how many other shipments do get exported.
Ending use of hazardous materials
Environmental watchdogs say what Canada and the U.S. need are local, reliable electronic waste recyclers that can be properly regulated to ensure that they are managing their toxic waste properly while not endangering the lives of theri workers.
They point out though taht the bigger disposal problem could be mitigated if manufacturers stopped using so many hazardous materials in their electronic devices in the first place.
Morawski points out that the European Union has a new piece of legislation called the RoHS directive (Restriction of Hazardous Substances). It restricts the use of six hazardous materials in electrical and electronic products and requires that all products in the EU market after July 1, 2006 must pass RoHS compliance.
Japan implemented similar legislation, effective July 1, 2006. Commonly referred to as "J-MOSS" or "Japan RoHS", the regulation borrows heavily from the RoHS Directive and also requires labels on products sold in Japan to warn consumers if the products contains lead, mercury, cadmium, PBB, PBDE and hexavalent chrome.
In North America, manufacturers are not subject to such regulations. Instead, environmental groups are hoping that the industry will clean itself up because of public pressure.
Greenpeace has gotten on board this issue, taking to task Apple Inc. for lagging behind the rest of the industry in manufacturing products with fewer toxins, such as Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs).
The environmental group has launched an action campaign called , calling for Apple to stop using hazardous chemicals. They say other companies have set dates to remove PVCs from their products but Apple hasn't.
"When Apple is greener, Apple will be a leading example of how a company can help tackle the problem," Greenpeace says on its website. "Once other big companies step up to match this new standard it will be a giant step forward to solving the problem of e-waste."
Environment Canada offers these suggestions when discarding obsolete technology:
- to the extent possible, upgrade your PC rather than replace it;
- check with your equipment brand owner for their product take-back policies and programs;
- donate your old computer equipment to a family member, friend or a charitable organization;
- find a location in your community that accepts old computer equipment for refurbishing;
- check with your local computer store or municipality to learn about disposal or recycling options in your area.
