In recent years there has been an increase in waste electrical and electronic parts (WEEE ) due to the growing importance of computers, tablets, mobile phones, calculators…, as well as the modernization of communications. However, many of these devices -also called E-Waste – are manufactured with polluting materials (such as phosphorus, mercury, cadmium or bromine) that, without proper management, cause great damage to the environment and to the people who manipulate them.
The initiative’s study Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP), conducted by an alliance of UN organizations, businesses, governments and non-governmental organizations , has been the first to reflect a map of electronic waste by country. this report also promotes recycling and safe disposal of often toxic parts. Thus, the estimates of the StEP report suggest that, by the year 2017, electronic waste will rise to 65.4 million tons, taking as reference data that, in 2013, almost 48.9 million tons of these were produced. waste.
Among the options that are taken into account to reduce WEEE is that of extracting or separating reusable elements -such as copper and iron from computers and other devices-. In this way, it is possible to get the most out of its components. Another possibility is to inform and sensitize the population about the consequences of disposing of garbage in landfills, and above all, to make people aware of what it means to buy a new electronic device every so often and another possibility is to generate technological garbage dumps. .
We also have to say that the planned obsolescence of all these devices has a lot to do with all this. Shouldn’t they last longer?