Electronic-Waste (E-Waste) Recycling

Running head: ELECTRONIC-WASTE (E-WASTE) RECYCLING 1
Electronic-Waste (E-Waste) Recycling
Name
Student Number
Course
Course Instructor
Date

ELECTRONIC-WASTE (E-WASTE) RECYCLING 2
Introduction
Electronic waste, often referred to as e-waste or e-scrap refers to the trash
generated from broken, obsolete or surplus electronic devices. The rapid growth of the
technology sector leads to the creation of excessive electronic waste every minute that
has to be got rid of. The increased amounts of electronic waste have led to the adoption
of e-waste recycling. E-waste recycling entails the processes carried out to recover the
waste to be used in new products (Haque, 2018). The rapid increase of e-waste could
also be explained by the short useful life-span of the electronic products. The transition
of such electronics to e-waste is therefore speedy. By 2015, an estimate of 422 million
unwanted phones were still stored in people’s premises (Mortillaro, 2016). In every year,
millions of electronic devices such as cell phones, television sets, tablets and computers
either go unsold after reaching their useful life or are discarded.
Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/2718497/electronic-waste-skyrockets-in-canada/

ELECTRONIC-WASTE (E-WASTE) RECYCLING 3
The electronic devices that are no longer useful unfortunately end up in garbage
collection areas or landfills. Only a few of them are used in other or new electronic
devices. A study conducted by the UN in 2014 confirmed that more than 41 million tons
of e-waste was disposed of globally (Kraus, 2018). However, only 40 per cent of the e-
waste was discarded properly. Essentially, electronic devices contain valuable materials
such as gold, copper, tin, silver and aluminium. These useful materials can be
recovered and reused even after the life-span of an electronic. In 2015, Apple revealed
that it has recovered gold worth 40 million from re-used iPads, Macs and iPhones.
The Canadian government began targeting e-waste management almost two
decades ago and has made a huge success in this sector. The process has been
evolving over the years and has proved to be a key advancement in the general sector
of waste management (Chamberlain & Wiens, 2012). The benefits of e-waste
management cut across several fields including the economic, social, political and
environmental sectors. Primarily, each sector is set to benefit from the program either
directly or indirectly.
Source: https://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/see-inside-canadian-e-waste-recycling-
facility.html