Electronic waste, or e-waste, refers to all items of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and the parts that have been discarded by their owners as waste without the intent of reuse. As we adopt a more materialistic and consumption-driven lifestyle, fuelled by a fast-paced technology sector, our need for electronic items, has led e-waste to become the fastest growing source of domestic waste.
E-waste includes a wide range of products – almost any household or business item with circuitry or electrical components with power or battery supply. The definition of e-waste is very broad, and covers six waste categories:
* Temperature exchange equipment, more commonly referred to as cooling and freezing equipment – typical equipment include refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, heat pumps.
* Screens, monitors – typical equipment include televisions, monitors, laptops, notebooks, and tablets.
* Lamps – typical equipment include fluorescent lamps, high-intensity discharge lamps, and LED lamps.
* Large equipment – typical equipment include washing machines, clothes dryers, dish-washing machines, electric stoves, large printing machines, copying equipment, and photovoltaic panels.
* Small equipment – typical equipment include vacuum cleaners, microwaves, ventilation equipment, toasters, electric kettles, electric shavers, scales, calculators, radio sets, video cameras, electrical and electronic toys, small electrical and electronic tools, small medical devices, small monitoring and control instruments.
* Small IT and telecommunication equipment – typical equipment include mobile phones, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), pocket calculators, routers, personal computers, printers, telephones.
A computer had a lifespan of about six years, this was reduced to two years in 2005! Currently, mobile phones have a lifespan of just two years!
Each product of the six e-waste categories has a different lifetime profile, which means that each category has different waste quantities, economic values, as well as potential environmental and health impacts if recycled inappropriately.
Did you know: The volume of e-waste grew by 9.2 Mt (megatonnes) between 2014 and 2019?
Some substances present in electronics, though toxic, do not pose a health risk, once well enclosed in the working device. However, if handled inappropriately or inhaled and ingested, these substances are dangerous to health. The toxic materials present in E-wastes, when exposed to the elements (rain, sunlight, high temperatures) at disposal sites, for instance, may react with components of other wastes and become toxic to the environment and persons in proximity. Also, when electronic wastes burnt in the open, they release toxic fumes into the atmosphere, and those fumes are toxic when inhaled by persons in the vicinity.
Chemical elements such as barium, cadmium, lead, lithium, mercury are associated with e-wastes. These have been linked to health effects such as birth defects; and brain, kidney, liver and reproductive system damage.
To address the issue of e-waste management, a number of global initiatives have been undertaken. They are linked to the objectives of the Basel Convention on Control of Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which was adopted twenty-five (25) years ago in Sweden. Guyana signed on to the Basel Convention on April 04, 2001, and the Environmental Protection Agency is both the Focal Point and Competent Authority of the Convention in Guyana. In this regard, the Agency is responsible for ensuring the proper management of hazardous wastes, including e-waste, in Guyana.
What has been done to address e-waste in Guyana?
In Guyana, a strategy is being developed to address the issue of e-waste management and disposal. Thus, in October, 2022 Guyana, in collaboration with the Basel Convent Regional Centre for Training and Technology for the Caribbean, hosted a Training Workshop on Improving E-waste Management Practices in Guyana. Key stakeholders, including Government and private entities that manage e-waste, were invited to participate.
As a follow-up, an Online Validation Workshop for Sub-Regional E-Waste Management Plan was held on April 18, 2023 to present the findings of the research conducted last year.
Further, given the hazardous nature of some components of e-waste, the local framework used to inform and regulate the management and disposal of e-waste is the Environmental Protection Act Cap 20:05. This Act grants EPA the authority to authorise developers to collect, store, and dispose of e-waste; or enforce sanctions, if required, on polluters.
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