{"id":1250,"date":"2017-01-05T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/?p=1250"},"modified":"2017-01-04T17:58:07","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T22:58:07","slug":"environmental-costs-electronic-waste-e-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/environmental-costs-electronic-waste-e-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"The Environmental Costs of Electronic Waste (E-Waste)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Consumers and Businesses Readily Utilize the Ever-Advancing Technology and its Gadgets\u2014But at What Cost to the Environment?<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

6 Pros and Cons That Electronic Technology Has On Our Environment<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

With computer and cell phone technology rapidly advancing, we are able to improve efficiency and global communication tremendously.\u00a0 <\/span>These new technologies have become critical for our way of life<\/i> and continue to expand our growing economy and create new jobs worldwide.\u00a0 <\/span>However, with these technological advancements come environmental impacts that must be considered as well.\u00a0 <\/span>Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a widely used and demanded consulting field today that deals with issues like electronic waste (e-waste).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cElectronic waste (e-waste) is the fastest growing waste in North America\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Each year approximately 300 million computers and 1 billion cell phones are produced<\/b>. \u00a0 <\/span>This amount is predicted to grow indefinitely 8% every year.\u00a0 <\/span>The New York Times<\/i> reports that on average, Americans replace their cell phones every 22 months\u2014dumping about 150 million phones solely in 2010.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>An argument that can be made is the fact that new technological developments with electronics have\u00a0 <\/span>allowed us to take away the need for multiple devices such as scanners, copiers and cameras\u2014and\u00a0 <\/span>be able to do all those same functions from one device\u2014this in theory creates less waste.\u00a0 <\/span>However, since electronics are changing so quickly, devices from just a year or two ago are often considered obsolete <\/b>and need to be replaced in order to stay \u201cup to date.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>In regards to e-waste, packaging waste, and the use of hazardous materials in electronics, the obligation to eliminate or reduce these largely rests with the manufacturers and retailers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The chart below provides an outline of just some of the advantages and disadvantages that arise either directly or indirectly from the rapid advancement of technological gadgets.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ewaste<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

More often than not, gadget (computers, smartphones, tablets, gaming systems etc.) owners store their old unusable devices at home after their lives have been used up, hoping to somehow find value or use in them again.\u00a0 <\/span>Most of these consumer devices end up in landfills\u2014up to 91 percent in the United States<\/b>\u2014 while a small percentage are recycled or reused.\u00a0 <\/span>Whether it\u2019s because the gadget owners are concerned about recycling a device that may have their private information on it or are unaware of where to recycle them, electronic waste dumping is becoming a large issue as technology continues to increase at a rapid level.\u00a0 <\/span>As companies are increasingly reliant on electronics for business efficiency purposes, corporate social responsibility (CSR) assessments and annual reports, as well as stewardship initiatives\u2014are prevailing and vastly growing environmental concerns and consulting services in demand.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More often than not, gadget (computers, smartphones, tablets, gaming systems etc.) owners store their old unusable devices at home after their lives have been used up, hoping to somehow find value or use in them again. Most of these consumer devices end up in landfills\u2014up to 91 percent in the United States. Learn more on PSDINST.com <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[67],"tags":[69,68],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1250"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17995,"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1250\/revisions\/17995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psdinst.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}