The United States 1.25 million tons of electronic waste each year where to go

First of all, please do not mind my nagging, the answer is transferred; electronic waste refers to have been scrapped all kinds of computers, printers and cell phones, household appliances and other electronic products. E-waste is a big problem that plagues the global environment. Especially in developed countries, due to the rapid replacement of electronic products, electronic waste is generated faster. According to statistics, Germany produces 1.8 million tons of electronic waste each year, France 1.5 million tons, the whole of Europe about 6 million tons. And the United States is even more amazing, only out of the computer will soon reach 300 million to 600 million units. Electronic waste is not only a large amount and serious harm. If not handled properly on people and the environment cause serious harm. Especially the TV, computer, cell phone, stereo and other products, containing a large number of toxic and harmful substances. Waste household appliances mainly contain six kinds of harmful substances: lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polyvinyl chloride plastic, brominated flame retardants. The cathode ray tube of a television set, the solder on the printed circuit board and the plastic shell are all toxic substances. The cathode ray tube of a television set contains four to eight pounds of lead. It takes more than 700 chemicals to make a computer, which contains more than 300 chemicals that are harmful to humans. The average amount of lead in a computer monitor is more than 1 kilogram. Elemental lead can damage a person's nerves, blood system and kidneys. more than 20 years ago, the U.S. government banned the use of lead paint in construction. Computer batteries and switches contain chromium compounds and mercury. Chromium compounds penetrate through the skin and cells and can trigger asthma; mercury destroys the nerves in the brain; chromium and mercury in the chassis and disk drives have a huge destructive effect on the DNA of human cells and brain tissue. If these electronic wastes are casually discarded or buried, a large number of harmful substances seep into the ground, resulting in serious pollution of groundwater; if incineration is carried out, a large number of toxic gases will be released, resulting in air pollution. Now in front of us the question is also just, how can we solve this problem of the century? Is it really to the point of no return? Recycling is always shocking February 25, Silicon Valley Toxics Prevention Coalition (SVTC) and Basel Action Network jointly released for the Asian e-waste imports of the investigation report. The 50-page report states that approximately 50 to 80 percent of U.S. e-waste is exported to Asia each year, primarily to China, but also to India and Pakistan. Exporting this dangerous waste to foreign countries has been given a beautiful name: recycling. However, this "recycling" is not environmentally friendly at all. It is a completely irresponsible dumping of hazardous waste. But what about domestic e-waste? It is equally alarming: according to the survey, the old electrical appliances now mainly go to two channels: the collection of garbage vendors and dismantling workshops. The old appliances collected by hawkers generally have two outlets: those that can be used are modified and then sold to the countryside; those that can't be used are sold for money, such as glass and plastic, and the rest are thrown away as garbage. These include a large number of harmful substances will eventually be treated as ordinary garbage landfill or incineration. Dismantling workshop is relatively advanced compared to some vendors, we first look at the "electronic waste" value: a research and analysis of the results show that 1 ton of random collection of electronic boards, can be separated out of 286 pounds of copper, 1 pound of gold, 44 pounds of tin, of which the value of only 1 pound of gold is 6,000 U.S. dollars. So in this pile of garbage contains a significant business opportunity, smart people think of the use of garbage to get rich, the "electronic garbage" contains gold, silver, copper, tin, chromium, platinum, palladium and other precious metals "demolition" out. But environmental investigator Clement Lam and others saw a horrifying scene in a place called Guiyu in Guangdong, China: piles of used computers and other electronic products were scattered around the village, and people were busy taking them apart; circuit boards were put into acid solutions to extract precious metals such as gold and silver, and then the waste liquid was dumped into the river; and toner cartridges and picture tubes from laser printers were cracked. At night, people burn plastic wires to recover copper metal, and the smoke rolls out. The "processed" waste is then thrown away. People in Guiyu are still using 19th century methods to dispose of these 21st century "products of civilization"! According to Clement Lam and others, the e-waste in Guiyu has made it impossible to find drinkable water for dozens or hundreds of miles around. At the same time, the soil has been completely poisoned and turned into a barren land. If these are the only two ways out for our growing electronic waste, the damage to our environment will be catastrophic. Legislative control In the face of the grim situation, national legislative control is the only way, currently in foreign countries have different degrees of regulations to control electronic waste. For example, in Japan, the Household Electrical Appliances Recycling Law enacted in 2000 stipulates that manufacturers and importers are responsible for the recycling and disposal of their own production and imported products. Germany's Circular Economy Act states that the disposal of e-waste is in principle the responsibility of producers and users. The Swedish law stipulates that disposal costs are to be borne by manufacturers and the government. France, on the other hand, emphasizes more on the responsibility of the whole society*** with the provision that each person should recycle 4 kilograms of electronic waste per year. It is reported that the relevant departments have been drafting a draft on the recycling of electronic waste, which is expected to be introduced next year. The draft will reflect the following characteristics: 1, drawing on foreign advanced experience, standardize the electronic waste recycling of this new industry. 2, the state to give policy support for the electronic waste recycling industry. 3, electronic waste disposal costs are considered to be borne by the state, enterprises and consumers **** with, but the specific proportion is still not determined. Establish the responsibility system of manufacturers and make it clear that manufacturers have the obligation to recycle and reprocess used products. Make it clear that retailers have the obligation to recycle old electronic products and hand them over to manufacturers, and that consumers have the obligation to hand over old electronic products to retailers for recycling at a price, and so on. The person in charge of the Solid Waste Management Department of the Pollution Control Division of SEPA said that in the coming period, a new catalog will be issued to prohibit the import of environmentally polluting waste electrical appliances and dismantled and broken parts, to enhance supervision and law enforcement, in particular, to combat the illegal practice of smuggling waste by means of entrainment, false declaration, etc., and to resolutely outlaw the extraction of precious metals by outdated processes in the small workshops and seriously polluting enterprises; to the state-approved importable Processing and utilization enterprises approved by the State to import waste hardware and electrical appliances, to clean up and reorganize the scope of business, to prevent the import of prohibited waste electrical appliances entrainment. Previously, the State Environmental Protection Administration, the General Administration of Customs and other departments have jointly issued a document, clearly stipulating that since April 1, 2000, prohibited the import of waste television sets and tubes, waste computers, waste monitors and display tubes, waste photocopiers, waste cameras (VCRs), waste telephone and other waste electrical appliances in eleven categories. At the same time, China will make full use of the international meetings of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and other occasions to request the countries concerned to strengthen the management of waste exports and prevent the transfer of wastes that are prohibited for import into our country. The State Environmental Protection Administration and other relevant departments are formulating the Regulations on the Administration of Recycling of Renewable Resources and the Management of the Recycling of Waste and Used Household Appliances in order to speed up the establishment of a recycling system and demonstration sites for renewable resources and to promote the healthy development of recycling of renewable resources in China. Also according to the State Environmental Protection Administration announced China's "environmental management of end-of-life electronic and electrical products," showing that the proportion of electronic waste in solid waste is still relatively low, as long as the proper disposal of waste electrical appliances on the environment can be completely avoided pollution. According to the State Environmental Protection Administration, China's solid waste environmental pollution, the largest or domestic garbage and industrial waste. At present, the annual output of domestic garbage is about 120 million tons, industrial solid waste 800 million tons, of which nearly 10 million tons of chemicals and other hazardous waste. Social concern of the total annual elimination of waste computers, the host is about 60 to 100,000 tons, about 30 to 50,000 tons of monitors, *** accounted for one to two ten thousandths of the total amount of solid waste, from the harmful effects of the environment, waste computers, only monitors and circuit boards, recycling and disposal of the need for a high level of craftsmanship, improper recycling will cause environmental pollution. As copper, aluminum, steel, plastic, etc. accounted for 90% of the waste computer. Recovery of these materials, if the manual way to dismantle and sorting, does not involve chemical processes, not only does not cause pollution to the environment, and resource recovery rate is high. Recycling industry to be developed At present, many manufacturers are still reluctant to invest in the recycling industry, probably because of the high initial investment costs, the need to use advanced technology, equipment and processes, but the recycling of its products has a broad prospect. Expert calculations say that the general a beginning of the dismantling of the enterprise, after the input period of at least five or six years before making a profit. After China's accession to the WTO, electrical manufacturers not only have to face domestic competition, but also have to face competition from foreign electrical appliances. So for recycling and reuse of many formal enterprises have the heart and powerless. However, the recycling industry has long become a "golden industry". In terms of the United States, the recycling rate of electronic waste to reach more than 97%, electronic waste disposal enterprises have reached 25 million to 30 million U.S. dollars in annual profits. This shows that the recycling of electronic waste is not unprofitable. For example: Dell recycling of used computers on the one hand, to protect the environment and establish a good reputation among consumers, and on the other hand, to win the trust of the government, it is very worthwhile for Dell to do direct sales. The process of recycling electronic waste contains great business opportunities. According to the relevant experts in environmental protection, waste electronic appliances contain a large number of recyclable non-ferrous metals, ferrous metals, plastics, glass, and some still have the use of parts and components, its recycling has broad prospects. Moreover, in foreign countries, there are some companies specializing in the recycling of waste computers, in accordance with government regulations can also get from the government or manufacturers of lucrative remuneration. Moreover, we can also see that by the uneven level of economic development, used computers are still useful, many economically developed provinces and cities have been included in the elimination of the product, in some remote areas there is still a market. Therefore, if you want to fundamentally put an end to the barbaric treatment of electronic waste situation, in addition to the formulation of laws and regulations strictly, but also need to develop or introduce suitable for China's national conditions, economical, practical and efficient recycling technology, the establishment of waste household appliances treatment of key technologies for small-scale demonstration projects, to the home appliance enterprises to promote the advanced and practical foreign processing technology, but also to establish and standardize the recycling channels of waste household appliances in recycling should be established Producers are responsible for the system, so that the production enterprises to become the main force of recycling work. As long as there are relevant technology and equipment, electronic waste recycling industry will be a virgin land to be developed, "money" is very promising. In addition, from the point of view of the draft formulated by the state, the state will have policy support. As long as the enterprise first consider environmental protection and the use of advanced technology, equipment, processes, will achieve social and economic benefits.