Of the 15 1 1 people who participated in the survey, 75. 12% have disposed of old household appliances, and 23.04% want to dispose of them, but don't know how to dispose of them. In terms of treatment methods, people's choices vary widely. When asked how to deal with small old household appliances (such as vacuum cleaners and microwave ovens). ), 28.65% people choose to sell to vendors who collect old household appliances, 16.05% people leave them at home because they don't know what to do with them, 16.02% people give them away, and 15.48% people sell them themselves. Only 1.3% was "recycled by other manufacturers". On the disposal of large household appliances (such as televisions and washing machines), people choose to sell them to vendors (30. 1 1%) and leave them unused because they don't know how to dispose of them (2 1.3 1%) and give them away (18.86).
In this regard, Dong Jinshi, vice president of the Beijing Environmental Science Society, said that most of the methods used by ordinary people to deal with old household appliances are unscientific. "If a considerable number of people sell old household appliances to vendors. After some small vendors recycle, some will disassemble-sell useful metals, and some scraps will be burned or thrown into the ditch. " Once disassembled improperly, it will lead to the leakage of radioactive and heavy metal elements and seriously pollute the environment. Previously, an institution conducted a study on 20 young lactating women near an electronic waste recycling point, and found that the concentration of carcinogens such as dioxins in milk secreted by many people was very high. However, in the survey, 55.56% people simply don't know the hidden dangers of improper handling of old household appliances, 17.22% people have some knowledge about it, and 27.25% people fully understand it.
When asked, "After knowing these hazards, will you reconsider how to deal with old household appliances", 66.62% said that they would think about it a little, but they might deal with it as usual afterwards, 3 1.39% said that they would deal with it in the right way immediately, and 1.99% said that they would not consider it at all. Dong Jinshi believes that e-waste recycling is unfavorable, first of all because there is no corresponding policy. Secondly, most ordinary people are not aware of the potential harm. Even if it is realized, it is difficult to find recyclable manufacturers and institutions. Therefore, Dong Jinshi appealed: First, the government should introduce corresponding laws and regulations as soon as possible. It is understood that the forthcoming circular economic law will stipulate that enterprises have the responsibility to recycle old household appliances in a unified way. Second, manufacturers should not only consider how to sell, but also how to recycle, and produce more recyclable, reusable and less polluting household appliances. Third, ordinary people can't throw away small household appliances such as chargers and alarm clocks together with domestic garbage; Don't leave large and medium-sized old household appliances at home for too long, otherwise there will be hidden dangers such as radioactive metal leakage. "But you can't find small vendors to recycle, you have to find manufacturers and relatively formal institutions."
The invention and use of various electrical appliances have brought great convenience to human production and life. However, more and more discarded electrical appliances are produced through upgrading, elimination and discarding. If it is not handled properly, it will cause great pollution and damage to the environment and seriously endanger human health.
Polychlorinated biphenyls are very toxic.
Many electrical appliances have transformers. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in waste transformer insulating oil are one of the most harmful poisons in the world at present, which have carcinogenic and teratogenic effects. Long-term exposure will be toxic to human reproduction, intellectual development and endocrine system.
In the process of accumulation and disassembly of waste electrical appliances, PCBs can flow into rivers with leaked insulating oil, sewage and other wastes, can also be deposited into water and soil with floating dust, and can also enter animals and plants through water, soil and air. Recently, the author completed a survey to study the pollution and health effects of PCBs in an area where the dismantling industry of old electrical appliances such as old transformers is concentrated. The results show that the ecological environment in this area has been seriously polluted and destroyed. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the river water in the dismantling area of waste electrical appliances are dozens of times higher than those in the clean area, and the adjacent areas with a distance of 100 km are also dozens of times higher than those in the clean area. The content of PCBs in local rice fields and vegetable fields also increased significantly.
The investigation found that PCBs in crucian carp in polluted areas exceeded the allowable limit by 40 times, and also increased in rice and vegetables to varying degrees. According to relevant standards, local freshwater fish and eggs are no longer edible, and those in neighboring areas should also be restricted. The survey also found that the content of polychlorinated biphenyls in umbilical cord blood, meconium and breast milk of local newborns increased significantly, and the intelligence and motor ability of local newborns were lower than that of normal people.
The hidden danger of waste electrical appliances is huge.
The above is just an example of environmental pollution caused by waste electrical appliances, but in fact, there are a lot of pollution caused by waste electrical appliances. Waste electronic wastes such as televisions, computers, mobile phones and refrigerators contain a lot of toxic and harmful substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and brominated flame retardants. The solder and plastic casing on TV picture tubes, cathode ray tubes and printed circuit boards are all toxic substances. More than 700 kinds of chemical materials are needed to produce a computer, of which more than 50% are harmful to human body.
At present, most of the waste electrical appliances are buried as ordinary garbage when destroyed, or dismantled and recycled in small workshops without environmental protection technology and conditions. Lead to a large number of harmful substances directly discharged into the environment, causing serious pollution. There are still many old electrical appliances taken away by scavengers and transformed into economically underdeveloped rural areas, which not only can not solve the pollution problem, but also cause many security risks.
Do not eat agricultural and sideline products in polluted areas
The source of environmental pollution caused by waste electrical appliances is that users discard them at will, and what is more serious is that some individual dismantling enterprises disassemble them improperly. Developed countries have formulated complete laws and regulations on the disposal of waste electrical appliances, and used advanced disassembly technology to turn waste into treasure. However, these countries have eliminated too many old electrical appliances, far exceeding their processing capacity, so they export a large number of used electrical appliances and transfer the pollution to underdeveloped countries.
China's relevant departments and some local governments have also formulated and implemented some rules and regulations on the disposal of waste electrical appliances, but there is still a process to be effectively implemented. The ability of recycling old electrical appliances without pollution is limited, and a large number of old electrical appliances are still treated as general garbage.
To solve this problem, the public and the government need to work together-
1. Both the public and the government should raise their awareness, the state should formulate and implement corresponding laws and regulations, and the masses should take the initiative to participate and supervise.
2. Cut off pollution sources, and it is forbidden to disassemble waste electrical appliances at will. Both individuals and units should raise their awareness. Waste electrical appliances cannot be thrown about or sold to dealers who collect waste products. Try to recycle it by the formal dismantling department and bear some "small money" losses.
3. In polluted places, in order to prevent the baby from continuing to be harmed by PCBs after birth, it is necessary to establish PCR detection in breast milk, that is, human blood, and determine whether to adopt breastfeeding mode under the guidance of experts.
The government should control and restrict the production and export of edible products in polluted areas, and residents should avoid eating agricultural and sideline products produced in polluted areas.
China has entered the peak period of electrical appliances scrapping. It is estimated that 5 million TV sets, 4 million refrigerators and 6 million washing machines will be scrapped every year. With the accelerated upgrading of computers, mobile phones, VCD, DVD and other electronic products, the number of scrapped products will also increase significantly.
At present, the main disposal methods of waste household appliances in China are mostly hoarding or selling to "waste recycling vendors". These "electronic wastes" have great security risks, serious environmental pollution and even illegal counterfeiting. Household appliances have exceeded the safe service life, and the wiring in the appliances is aging, which may easily lead to electric leakage accidents and fires, and bring potential safety hazards to users of old household appliances. E-waste contains a lot of toxic and harmful substances, such as: TV picture tubes contain explosive waste, TV screens contain highly toxic mercury, refrigerants and foaming agents in refrigerators can destroy the ozone layer, solder and plastic shells of printed circuit boards, and so on. More than 50% of more than 700 kinds of chemical raw materials needed by a computer are harmful to human body. If disassembled improperly, it will not only affect our living environment, but also endanger people's health.
At present, many countries have issued relevant laws and regulations on the recycling, treatment and utilization of waste household appliances, and established special recycling institutions to deal with waste household appliances or electronic products. In recent years, the National Development and Reform Commission has successively formulated policies and regulations such as Regulations on the Management of Recycling and Disposal of Waste Household Appliances and Electronic Products and Measures for the Management of Pollution Control of Electronic Information Products, stipulating that waste household appliances should not be littered, and consumers should sell them to appliance dealers, after-sales service agencies or recycling enterprises, which will hand them over to qualified processing enterprises for disposal. Reusable household appliances must be tested, repaired and labeled as recycled products before they can be sold in flea markets. Waste household appliances that can no longer be used must be classified into metals, plastics, circuit boards, electrical components, etc. And sent to special treatment, or melting, or chemical decomposition, or incineration.
The standardized recycling of "electronic waste" will promote the electronic information industry to gradually transform into an environment-friendly and resource-saving green industry.