Moli Sk

Since the rapid development of information technology, electronic waste has extensively increased but the excess waste had to go to either landfill or incinerators. Insensitive disposal off the e-waste has several dangerous consequences on environmental aspects. It is responsible for producing greenhouse gas, making weather warmer and impacting on health.

It is significant to assess the best available and emerging technologies for electronic waste management in industrialized and industrializing countries to set equilibrium between electronic production and e-waste management

Every year, obsolete components are discarded in unsafe and unsustainable manner. The absence of effective management system for discarded electronic equipments has resulted into several environmental and health issues.

Increasing demand of electronic equipments in Kenya as well as other neighboring countries such as Tanzania, Sudan, Zambia, Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Congo has created severe environmental issues.

Generally, monitors have considerably longer life span than hard drives or any other computer components. On the other hand, a monitor contains most hazardous elements such as lead and cathode-ray-tubes which itself contains five toxic substances. From environmental perspective, it is advisable to use it for the longest possible time. Instead of buying a brand new system, users should go for upgrading and recycling various components in order to extend the computer's life.

The processing of electronic waste in a southern Chinese town has surfaced gravely and caused severe health problems to local communities. According to the US Environment Protection Agency, EPA, China is the destination of 70 percent e-waste of the world.

According to the news of sciencedaily.com, by the year of 1020 electronic waste from old computers will be doubled from 200 to 400 percent in South Africa and China and will increase by 500 percent in India. The most concerning part is that these countries don't have any concrete plan or system to tackle hazardous e-waste and most of them are improperly handled or discarded.

Over the years, Electronic devices have evoked communication revolution and profoundly changed almost every aspect of our life, and simultaneously posed as one of the most threatening factors for local as well as global environment. Since inception, electronic gadgets have been tremendously overused and people seldom cared about it consequences on environment as well as human health.

Dealing with electronic waste is certainly a now-or-never situation and cooperation is expected from manufactures as well as users. According to ERP, up to 70 percent of recycling substances are directly used in manufacturing. Rest of 30 percent can be converted into various household items.

Computers have dramatically enhanced the degree of our life but simultaneously produced millions of tons of electronic garbage over the period. E-waste is multiplicative and is increasing at an alarming rate—faster than household and industrial garbage.