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This academic paper delves into the growing issue of e-waste, examining its environmental and ethical implications. It explores the rapid generation of e-waste due to technological advancements and consumerism, highlighting the risks posed by hazardous materials and the exploitation of resources in developing countries. The paper also analyzes the ethical dimensions of e-waste, particularly the responsibility of manufacturers and the need for stricter regulations to promote sustainable practices.
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Presented to the Department of Philosophy, College of Liberal Arts De La Salle University - Manila Term 2 , A.Y. 2023- In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course GEETHIC – Z GEETHIC Individual Final Paper Submitted by: Ramas, Knyll Adelayne A. Submitted to: Sir Alvenio Mozol 4 April 2024
Introduction E-waste is an issue that only gained notoriety in recent years. This is because the existence of e-waste has not been that long. As defined by the World Health Organization, e-waste consists of discarded electronic devices and other electronic accessories and 53.6 million tons of it was generated in the year of 2019. E-waste is not just like regular pollution as it imposes unique risks and challenges. Firstly, it is generated at an exponential rate due to constant technological advancements or the mass production of cheap, low-quality electronics. Most people are unable to purchase expensive, yet high-quality electronic devices or components due to financial restrictions, choosing to spare more money on groceries, utilities, and rent. Thus, they purchase a device that breaks within a short time frame and they dispose of it and it ends up in a landfill. On the other hand, electronics manufacturers release multiple, newer models of their products and market them in such a way that people are enticed by the newly added advanced features. Consequently, they purchase a newer model even though they have an older device working perfectly well. This older device can be passed down to another family member or sold, but often it is thrown out and ends up in landfills. One can even say that being in a capitalist society promotes and accelerates the generation of e-waste as every company is trying to make you buy their new smartphone. The most common type of e-waste are ICT equipment such as laptops, computers, smartphones, keyboards, etc. followed by large household appliances such as dishwashers, refrigerators, and microwaves. As mentioned, E-waste imposes certain risks to human health, especially for children. This is because there are dangerous metals and chemicals, such as lead and mercury, used in making devices, and if these are exposed to humans, they can cause a variety of health issues. Children of lower socio-economic status in third world countries are at most risk. This is because the e-waste of another, more developed country is imported to a third world country, then simply dumped in various landfills in the country. These children then hunt for spare metal parts to sell to the scrapyard to earn a bit of money to be able to feed themselves and their families that day. They are unaware of the danger they are being exposed to and they can experience reduced respiratory function and neurodevelopment. The concept of e-waste is so recent that
Additionally, if you have your phone repaired at a third party repair shop, Apple will refuse to service your device after that. This leads to more e-waste as people will keep using faulty or broken devices due to high repair prices and end up discarding their device soon after. With growing numbers of e-waste generated from different countries around the world, developed countries need a way to dispose of this waste and there are opportunistic individuals who take advantage of the situation. According to a report published by the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) in 2015, 90% of the global e-waste is illegally traded and sent to third world countries, primarily in East Asia. This occurs because within the process of some countries’ recycling programs, when e-waste is segregated from other recyclable materials, it is meant to be sent to another specialized recycling center. Instead, a middle man sells them to the black market or to an illegal organization to profit off of the scrap materials and avoid expensive recycling costs. Through this, the waste is dumped in third world countries and other criminals expose others to health risks from informal recycling of these old electronics. In a province in China where informal recycling is lucrative, the children were found to have 50% more Lead in their blood compared to children from neighboring areas. Exposure to lead could lead to intellectual disabilities or behavioral disorders. When pregnant women are exposed to flame retardants and heavy metals in these devices, it can lead to premature births or stillbirths, mutations, and decreased lung function among an array of consequences. For people living in such heavily polluted areas due to e-waste, such as Guiyu, China and Agbogbloshie, Ghana, it is simply unavoidable for the locals who have nowhere to go and no other means of work. This is an issue many organizations, especially branches of the United Nations, take very seriously as the dangers of exposure to dangerous chemicals is detrimental to the oblivious informal recyclers who are simply trying to earn a living. When dealing with any forms of waste, global warming will always be linked as there are many contributors to it. The chemicals released when discarded electronic devices are burned are released into the atmosphere, worsening the air pollution. The refrigerant used in a cooling device such as refrigerators
or freezers are greenhouse gasses and contribute to climate change. It starts to become clear why it is imperative that these appliances and electronics are disposed of in a proper manner, by proper disposal/recycling organizations. Additionally, the underutilization of the scrap metal and precious metals from these old devices mean that manufacturers of these products spend more money and resources to mine these metals from the Earth. This also causes more carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses to be expelled into the atmosphere. The metals inside these electronics also can seep into the soil and sources of water, ultimately putting the ecosystem in these in grave danger. Not only does it harm our health but it greatly harms our environment, and with such an excess of e-waste, the larger the amounts of air and land pollution, and exacerbating the greenhouse effect. E-waste has only been recently discussed as a genuine threat to the environment and human health, therefore, most countries do not have a law or policy set regarding e-waste regulation and disposal. The European Union seems to be one of the most active when it comes to actively reducing e-waste as countries that are members of the EU must stop the sale and distribution of electronics that do not use a USB-C cable for charging. This is the same policy that forced Apple to change their charging port into a USB-C port and most other electronic companies have followed suit due to fear of lack of sales if their products cannot be sold in the EU. India has drafted a new policy that states that by 2023/2024, businesses are required to recycle 60-70% of their e-waste, with this figure increasing to 80% by 2025. Most of the countries in East Asia, who are either the biggest offenders of producing millions of tons of e-waste or the recipients of more developed countries’ e-waste, do not have any e-waste laws or policies for their regulation and disposal. Most shockingly of all, the United States does not have any policies regarding e-waste set by the federal government. Only a few states have regulations regarding e-waste. An example is New York who made amendments to their 2010 Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act to facilitate and make it easier for old electronics to be recycled and make manufacturers of such devices more accountable and pay the costs for setting up e-waste recycling initiatives.
the raw materials into smartphones or tablets. Worse, some of these shady mining companies in third world countries, from which bigger electronics manufacturers get their materials from, hire children to go into caves and mine for precious/heavy metals. This is not only extremely dangerous from exposure but also from physical dangers that come with mining. There is a lot of exploitation that goes into creating such devices, which only end up in landfills after a short period of time. Reflection My perception of the electronics industry, as a whole, has really changed after being assigned this moral issue. I was blindly unaware of the massive amounts of exploitation that goes into the creation of a device, and it simply ends up being thrown in a landfill to become e-waste. There is a deep-rooted inequality because all of the consequences that e-waste causes directly affects those in third-world countries. They are most likely the same country whose natural resources are being mined and used for another country’s company’s profit, and that developed country’s e-waste is then shipped, illegally, onto third world countries who are exposed to the dangerous chemicals that come from burning or recycling e-waste. There is a lack of moral accountability being taken by these companies who create the e-waste to begin with. There needs to be stricter laws and regulations on their obligation to recycle or properly dispose of electronics they produce. I benefited from learning and understanding distributive justice in how to manage working as a team, and dividing the tasks (or burdens) to begin with to ensure that, more or less, everyone has equal burden in this team output. Then how to delegate those responsibilities and ensure that each member of the team is assigned with a part or a task that utilizes their strengths and talents. It helped overall to improve the quality of the output as each of our best abilities was used in the creation of the project. Lastly, act utilitarianism helped me understand why it is important to compromise on some ideas you might have when working in a group project. Being in a group, it is inevitable that clashes of ideas and
concepts will occur but it is important that everyone is receptive to each other’s ideas and be able to assess which ideas would be best for the team and the project overall, rather than one person’s own satisfaction. It helped me be more accepting of ideas I might not have agreed with initially and thus, we ended up with a team final output we are all satisfied with. Works Cited Author, Guest, et al. “The growing problem of e-waste should play a bigger role in the climate change debate.” WasteAid , 23 June 2022, https://wasteaid.org/the-growing-problem-of-e-waste-should-play-a-bigger-role-in-the-climate-ch ange-debate/? Accessed 4 April 2024. “Chapter 9 Illicit trade in electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) from the world to the region.” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime , https://www.unodc.org/documents/toc/Reports/TOCTA-EA-Pacific/TOCTA_EAP_c09.pdf. Accessed 4 April 2024. “Countries With E-Waste Legislation in 2022 - ERI.” Electronic Recyclers International , 3 August 2022, https://eridirect.com/blog/2022/08/countries-with-e-waste-legislation-in-2022/. Accessed 4 April
DeVroom, Dawn. “10 Electronic Waste Statistics You Need To Know.” IDR Hazardous Waste Disposal Blog , 16 November 2020, https://blog.idrenvironmental.com/10-electronic-waste-statistics-you-need-to-know. Accessed 4 April 2024. “Electronic waste (e-waste).” World Health Organization (WHO) , 18 October 2023, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/electronic-waste-(e-waste). Accessed 4 April
