Ethical Dilemma in E-Waste Management

This article discusses the ethical dilemma faced by the IT industry in Australia regarding e-waste management. It explores the harmful effects of e-waste, the stakeholders involved, legal recourse, and possible solutions. The article emphasizes the need for proper e-waste recycling and highlights the responsibility of IT companies in manufacturing environmentally friendly electronics. It also includes a case study from India, showcasing efforts to address the e-waste problem. Overall, the article provides insights into the challenges and potential solutions for ethical e-waste management.

Running head: ETHICAL DILEMMA 1
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Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Introduction
The e-waste is defined by the Australian Bureau of statistics as electronic equipment and
waste electrical that is reliant on on electromagnetic fields or electronic currents for it to
work. The e-waste has grown into an ethical dilemma for the IT industry in Australia, 2019.
These because the IT companies progressively manufacture resources without a proper
method or managing the e-waste that will be produced in the long run. Due to the government
intervention, the ethical dilemma has been on whether to stop the production process until a
proper solution is found or go on with production despite the hazardous effect of the e-waste.
The e-waste from the IT industries constitutes of the subassemblies, components, and
consumables which are a fragment of the new equipment at the time of disposal. The sources
of the e-waste include domestic appliances, illumination devices, entertainment electronics,
power apparatuses and the equipment’s that are used for rest and sports (Debnath,
Chowdhury & Ghosh 2018). In situations where e-waste components are handled
appropriately 90%-95% can be recycled thus greatly tumbling the environmental influence of
landfill dumping. Therefore, e-waste needs to be dumped in an ethical and reliable
reprocessing plant.
The e-waste is a fundamental issue in Australia and the entire globe since the electronic
devices constitute a multifaceted mixture of various materials. A typical illustration is a
mobile phone that is comprised of 500- 100- components which several of them contain
poisonous heavy metals as well as dangerous chemicals like the brominated flame retardants.
The PVC plastics that often cause pollution is utilized on some occasions. This dangerous
substance causes critical pollution and may expose the employees at high peril when the
products are thrown out or produced. The metals like mercury and lead are highly toxic thus

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can cause harm to developing fetus, pregnant women and children at even low levels of
exposures.
Australia is a developed nation and cares about the IT advancement, a requirement for
brilliant electronic gadgets innovation is in high demand causing more E-waste which is
hardware trash, for example, cell phones, PCs, television, and home apparatuses and the
rundown is unending (Lozano Garcia, 2017). These gadgets made of various materials like
lead, mercury, cadmium, platinum, metal, and Semi-plastic that impact damage on the
environment driving it to the general public wellbeing as well as for different nations. Not
finding an appropriate clarification could put the IT business in a genuine long haul ethical
dilemma.
Innovation assumes a significant role in our present period; it has become part of our day
by day life where it has changed how we work, play and so on. In this way, the interest of
gadgets has been expanding for as long as decade as we push ahead to the difficult time. Over
the long haul, the more gadgets we have procured, the more devices we need to dispose. The
assembling for gadgets includes various materials which may damage the surroundings, for
example, lead, cadmium, mercury and so on. Australia has been consistently expanding the
interest for gadgets such as the cell phones thus leading to an increase in the quantity of the e-
waste. A significant number of waste is distributed to many developing nations where waste
management isn't controlled accordingly; it may harm nature and its kin. This e-waste issue
might be one of the most exceptional ethical predicaments faced by the IT business in
Australia.
Back Ground Analysis
(i) Harm other Countries
The e-waste causes considerable damage majorly on the developing nations because they
lack proper management systems of recycling the waste which results in an ethical dilemma

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(Gole et al., 2016). The developing states receive a lot of out-dated technology, unprocessed
and their methods of disposal are often environmentally unfriendly.
(ii) Overstocking of the E-waste
The volume of e-waste distribution in the globe is becoming an alarming issue thus
leading to overstocking which is a significant concern to the IT companies. An approximate
of 44.7 million e-wastes is generated around the world. The aggregate of production of e-
waste is anticipated to rise by almost 17% to 52.2 million tonnes in 2021 or an estimate of
8% increase each year. A vivid example is in Australia where in the municipal solid waste
sector e-waste is regarded as the fastest developing component (Mohee & Bundhoo, 2015).
(iii) Harm the Environment
E-Waste causes harm to the environment when it has been recycled under uncontrolled
conditions or dumped illegally which is a negative impact that has been contributed by the IT
production companies. The electronics materials contain hazardous materials such as
beryllium, cadmium, and lead which when burnt affects the environment through pollution
and might also affect human health (Li et al., 2015). The disposal of the electronic wastes
reduces the chances of re-use and recovery of the treasured resources.
Stakeholders
The stakeholders who are accountable for the management of the e-waste constitute of the
organizational, governmental and influential stakeholders. On that note, the corporate
stakeholders include the manufacturers or producers, consumers, retailers and business.
These stakeholders are responsible for the production, marketing, and distribution of the e-
waste in the globe; thus their association is symbiotic (Lodhia, Martin & Rice, 2017). The IT
companies are part of the organization stakeholders, therefore, face an ethical dilemma due to
poor management strategies on e-waste. The government stakeholders include the
municipality governance system, national and international bodies, educational institutes,

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government, and private establishments. The government is the instrument of collection of
the waste from offices, and the households through the municipal services. Finally, the
influential stakeholders in the e-waste sector comprise of the scrap dealers or waste managers
who play a vital task in the smelting, recycling, and dissembling of the e-waste (Muniafu &
Miya, 2016).
Duties and obligations of stakeholders
The responsibilities and liability of the Australian government stakeholders are regulated
by the administrators who have been approved by the government. It is done by the providers
who have been qualified by the Australian standards for environmental and occupational
safety. The fundamental duty of the government is by diverting the hazardous substances
away from the landfill thus by enabling the reuse of valuable resources present in the e-waste
by recovering over 90% of the materials every year. Majority of the people in the community
are unaware of the damage that e-waste can impact to the environment and their health
defects. Therefore, it is essential that the government should create awareness through
educational institutions or platforms to enlighten the community of the negative impact of
electronic waste materials. Therefore, waste management is considered not the responsibility
of the government alone.
Waste management is the primary duty of the territory and state government in Australia
they are obligated to manage and regulate the amount of waste produced in accordance to the
nation’s respective policies, programmes and legislation (Kumar, Holuszko & Espinosa,
2017). In November 2009 all the Australian environ ministers settled upon the national waste
plan that ensured more assets but less waste production. The system provided a co-operation
among the stakeholders to deliver practical approaches to moderate the amount of waste
disposal, elude the generation of waste and also manage waste as a reserve to provide
environmental, economic and social benefits.

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The organizational stakeholders plan to implement an effective plan for e-waste recycling
(Morris & Metternicht, 2016). Thus, through that, they will be able to propagate the market,
pursue sustainability, reduce hazard and risk. The organizational stakeholders are obligated to
produce and manage the waste infrastructure.
The ethical values of that necessitate the management of the waste include being law
abiding by the environmental policies, concern, and respect for other people in the
community (Golev et al., 2016). The public interest needs to be satisfied thus by ensuring that
the people living in a particular community are safe from environmental hazards. The quality
of life is a significant aspect since people’s health is often prioritized to reduce death rates.
Professionalism needs to be enhanced and developed to identify the impacts of e-waste and
possible remedies. As technology is continually evolving e-waste is increasingly affecting the
society and the environment. These substances can cause respiratory illnesses, infertility, and
cancer when they get into contact with peoples bodies.
The nation’s reputation may end up being destroyed if no proper management mechanism
has been put in place to regulate the amount of waste that is being manufactured and
imported into the country. The e-waste cause respiratory ailments and nervous complications.
They contribute to the sickness of the people making them live an unhealthy life; hence they
do not have the opportunity to enjoy life. Developed nations like Australia dispose of their
waste to developing countries like Africa who have to recycle the waste under inhumane
conditions. These components end up generating a pool of toxic materials that harm the
environment since they are non- biodegradable. The chemical substances that have been
released by the e-waste poison or pollute the underground water. On the other, hand the waste
substance that has been burnt end causing air pollution due to the release of the poisonous
substances.

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Legal recourse
Majority of the rules and guidelines for effective management of e-waste in Australia are
state-based. The stakeholders are legally responsible for the improvement of the negative
impacts of the e-waste in Australia because its legislation is unable to keep up with the
quantity of e-waste that is currently being produced by the IT industries. The administration
has to ensure that no harm comes to the consumers or retailers of the e-waste by
implementing regulatory measures and policies (Heacock et al., 2015). There are no specific
laws to deal with the issue of e-waste management in Australia; thus the amount of e -waste
is growing out of control. Therefore the law needs to acclimatize and tackle the e-waste
incidences.
Solutions
The IT industries play a vital role in the administration of the e-waste. On this note,
according to the Australian code of ethics, the government has ensured that all IT production
industries have a take-back scheme to reprocess their electronic devices. This strategy has
facilitated the IT industries to be able to recycle their products hence regulating the amount of
e-waste generation.
Therefore the IT industries will aid in the recycling of batteries and electronics that may be
collected in the recycling bin. The recycling process will facilitate the extension of the life
span of the devices (Egeonu & Herat, 2016). On the other hand, the IT companies will have
to manufacture environmentally friendly electronics that have been certified by the Electronic
Product Environment Assessment Tool (EPEAT) and the products labeled energy star. In
addition, while marketing and selling of their products there is need to enlighten the
community on the danger of e-waste.

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Case study
India is one of the states that suffer from the global massive e-waste problem which has
been contributed by the surplus production of the IT companies. This has resulted in
unskilled recyclers exposing themselves to the risky recycling process (Borthakur, 2015). On
that note, Jeevesh Kumar is working on rebooting the benefits and recycling the dangers of e-
waste. He empowers the youth by offering them training skills in order to attain the basic
knowledge of the negative impacts of electronic waste (GANGULY, 2016). This will make
them less exposed to the chemical substances that could damage their health.
A typical example is, when Jeevesh Kumaar was living on campus he got a refurbished
laptop at the second-hand store across Victoria Park. He thought that it was brilliant if the
purchase of upcycled electronics become a new norm since some of the people may not need
brand new devices. In addition, to aid in tackling the situation in 2007, Kumaar becomes the
co-founder of Greenscape Eco Management which was India’s leading IT disposal site
(Garlapati, 2016). It recycled the electronics that were destined for landfills by repairing or
re-using them hence extending their life.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the volume of e-waste being manufactured is increasing at a rapid rate in
developing countries due to inadequate management mechanisms which are an ethical
dilemma in the IT industrial sector. The existing policies in developing countries have not
been operational in regulating the amount of informal recycling. This is due to the absence of
the governance and enforcement assets in the region. Potential new policies should be
implemented to restrict the e-waste importation to reduce the amount of e-waste that is being
transported to the informal recycling regions. Additionally, the appropriate mitigation
measures for the producers and the manufacturers are by implementing the take-back system
to recycle their electronic devices efficiently.

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