The electronic device and e waste impact on the environment is a global ecological issue, which is not just limited to the creation of rubbish.
There are numerous environmental impacts associated with consumer electronics, for instance:
- Natural resource depletion – We have grown to rely on a wide variety of consumer electronic devices, but this dependence comes at a price. We are estimated to currently be using 1.75 planets worth of resources, a figure that is to rise to two planets by 2030 (sgs.com, 2021).
- Greenhouse Gasses emissions due to excessive energy use – In the US, residential energy use has steadily been increasing in previous decades and now stands at 22% of total energy use. This is despite a decrease in average household energy use brought about by greater insulation and more efficient appliances. Two factors are impacting these figures. Firstly, the number of households in the US has grown enormously in the last four decades – from 80 million in 1980 to 128 million in 2020. Secondly, we now have multiple devices in every room, and even in our pockets. These require electricity, the generation of which is increasing GHG emissions (sgs.com, 2021).
- Labour exploitation – Labour exploitation occurs at both the extraction and manufacturing stages of the production of electronic goods. Child and forced labour is known to occur in the extraction of minerals for electronic goods. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) refers to mining conducted with low-tech machinery and physical labour. Between 20-30 million people, mostly in developing nations, are estimated to be employed in the ASM sector and around 100 million people depend on ASM mining for their livelihoods (ethical.org.au, 2022).
- Increased plastic waste from packaging – The fragility of some electronic products and their high value means packaging levels for some consumer electronics are excessive. However, many businesses are now addressing this problem by using more sustainable materials, replacing virgin materials with recycled, bio-based or compostable materials (sgs.com, 2021).
- Increased hazardous waste from e-waste – In the U.S. alone, electronic waste comprised 1.4% of the municipal solid waste stream in 2012. Only 29.2% of used electronics in the U.S. are collected for recycling (Meyer & Katz, 2016). The rest were simply trashed. If not properly managed, toxic chemicals from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE or e-waste) can enter the soil, water supplies, and food-chain (Brown, 2021).
- Human and ecological health effects – These effects may result from the release of toxic materials (heavy metals, flame retardants, etc.) during end-of-life management (Meyer & Katz, 2016).
According to Basel Action Network, e-waste encompasses a broad and growing range of electronic devices ranging from large household devices such as refrigerators, air conditioners, cell phones, personal stereos, and consumer electronics to computers which have been discarded by their users. Some regions like the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe stipulate how e-waste should be managed, but many goods continue to end up in a landfill.
To better understand e waste impact on the environment we’ve created this analysis based on and quoting from numerous publications that we researched (links to sources are provided).
Hazardous and Useful Elements/Chemical Substances Contained in Electronics and E-Waste
Worldwide, approximately 20–50 million tons of e-waste are produced annually. Such an amount of waste is significant not only in terms of quantity but also because it contains substances (heavy metals and plastics) that can have hazardous [effects on] nature, especially when they are managed in an incorrect or inappropriate way. Several environmental protection agencies around the world consider e-waste to be hazardous waste because it has chemical compounds in its composition that are toxic and harmful to human health and to the environment. In general, a mixture of metals can be found in e-waste, such as copper, iron, aluminum, brass and even precious metals, such as gold, silver and palladium, in addition to a mixture of polymers, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyurethane and others. E-waste may also include ceramic materials, such as glass, and other inorganic, organic and even radioactive materials (Andréa & Hugo, 2015).
Meanwhile, reusing electronic products is a good option to reduce e waste impact on the environment. Reuse of electronics or their components is to continue the use of them for the same purpose for which they were conceived, beyond the point at which their specifications fail to meet the requirements of the current owner and the owner has ceased use of the product. Products could be donated as charity or treated before or in this phase. Figure 1 shows the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) to e-waste with reuse flow (Muammer, 2019).
Figure 1. EEE to e-waste with reuse flow (Muammer, 2019)
The Lifecycle of Electronics
For many contract electronics manufacturers, the increased focus on reducing the environmental impact of their operations means reviewing all stages of the production cycle – from procurement and storage to product development and distribution (Brown, 2021). The environmental impact of electronics dependency hits at every stage of the lifecycle as shown in Figure 2.
Mining & Drilling
Raw materials used to create the components in electronics are derived from natural resources. Metal ores eventually become wires, diodes, and transistors, and are even present in things like touchscreens. Plastic is derived from oil. These natural resources are limited and non-renewable. Beyond that, the processes for extracting ores and oil from the Earth – mining and drilling – are incredibly damaging to the environment and ecosystems around the mining sites. Once a mine is used up, the damage is done and practically irreversible, and the mining company moves on to the next site to repeat the process (cohenusa.com, 2022).
Figure 2. The Lifecycle of Electronics (cohenusa.com, 2022).
Most Americans [and Europeans] will go their entire lives without seeing a mining operation in person – because most of them are overseas or in other countries, such as Chile (the largest global supplier of copper ore), Peru, China, and India. Within the U.S., they are often located far from population centers, out of sight and out of mind. Environmental regulations around the world are far from standardized, and mining companies don’t have a lot to lose by playing fast and loose with inconsistent or unenforced rules. So from the very start of their lifecycle, electronics already have a strike against them (cohenusa.com, 2022).
Manufacturing
It takes several steps to get from metal ore to a finished consumer product. Each one of those steps involves manufacturing processes that rely on massive amounts of water and electricity, and have a significant carbon footprint. Meanwhile, it’s much more cost-effective and energy-efficient to use recycled metals in manufacturing than raw ones. Recovering usable materials through recycling uses a fraction of the energy needed to mine new metals. Putting more electronics into the recycling stream makes more of these materials available for reuse in manufacturing and reduces the demand for mining (cohenusa.com, 2022).
Some efforts have been made to prevent/reduce the use of toxic products in electronic equipment. The most important was, probably, Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Union, also known as RoHS—Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances. This resolution banned the manufacture and sale of consumer electronics in the European Union that contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and/or polybrominated diphenyl ethers. As such, many countries that have trade relations with the EU were obliged to manufacture products without these substances (Andréa & Hugo, 2015).
[The forthcoming 2023 EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) also stipulates that products sold in the EU must be manufactured in a more sustainable way with a reduced environmental impact, and manufacturers need to include more recyclable materials, design products to be more sustainable, and actively consider how they can be disposed of so as not to simply become yet more e-waste.]
Transportation/ Distribution
The distribution of electronics has a significant impact on the environment. The global transportation network is designed to move goods quickly and efficiently from one location to another. Freight ships, trains, and trucks all use fossil fuels, which release harmful emissions into the atmosphere. In addition, the distribution of electronics often relies on rare earth minerals, which are mined in environmentally destructive ways. Once the products reach their destination, they are often packaged in plastic or other materials that are difficult to recycle. As a result, electronic waste is one of the fastest-growing types of waste worldwide (cohenusa.com, 2022).
Energy & Power
Electronics require electricity which comes either from an outlet connected to the power grid or from batteries. The vast majority of electricity in the U.S. still comes from non-renewable, eco-unfriendly resources like coal. Batteries are notoriously difficult and dangerous to dispose of. Lithium, cadmium, and lead are all examples of toxic metals found in batteries – metals that will make their way into the soil and water if those batteries are allowed to decompose in a landfill (cohenusa.com, 2022).
Disposal
Electronics have more staying power in a landfill than they do in the marketplace. We’re talking hundreds if not thousands of years for an intact device to reach full decomposition – you might as well say never. And all that time, their components are slowly breaking down and leaching into their surroundings.
While e waste impact on the environment isn’t a highly visible problem in the U.S., a lot of electronics have ended up overseas in “e-waste graveyards” in developing nations. There, people who are desperate for the valuable metals within the electronics will go to dangerous means to access them. That includes burning away the non-metal materials and sending hazardous elements into the air, soil and water. Those elements have been shown to cause serious health problems for those exposed to them, including brain damage and birth defects (cohenusa.com, 2022).
And that’s not even getting into the data security aspect of electronics disposal – but that’s a topic for another article.
Recycling
A number of efforts have been launched to solve the global e-waste problem. The efficiency of e-waste recycling is subject to variable national legislation, technical capacity, consumer participation, and even detoxification. E-waste management activities result in procedural irregularities and risk disparities across national boundaries. The best option for waste treatment is recycling (Muammer, 2019).
The best e-waste recycling plants recover the most of metals and PMs (precious metals) by separating them from nonmetals. The careful design of the machines allows them to drastically reduce the loss of PMs making the business profitable and attractive. Equipment should be compact and with a reduced initial investment. The layout of the e-waste recycling machinery is custom designed for getting the capacity required by the end user in accordance with the type of e-waste to be processed. There are three general reasons for e-waste processing:
- Environmental concerns
- Energy savings
- Resource (material and water) conservation efficiency
Altogether, metal production today represents about 8% of the total global energy consumption and a similar percentage of fossil fuel-related CO2 emissions (Muammer, 2019).
Electronic waste processing is very complex due to the great heterogeneity of its composition and its poor compatibility with the environment. The first step is usually manual disassembly, where certain components (casings, external cables, CRTs, PCBs, batteries, etc.) are separated. Following disassembly, the technologies used for the treatment and recycling of electronic waste include mechanical, chemical and thermal processes. For metals recovery, there are four main routes:
- Mechanical Processing
- Hydrometallurgy
- Electrometallurgy
- Pyrometallurgy (Andréa & Hugo, 2015).
Mechanical Processing
The mechanical processing of e-waste is used to select and separate materials and the separation is based on steps of mineral processing techniques. As far as scraps are concerned, mechanical processing is generally seen as a pretreatment for the separation of materials and is associated with different separation stages of e-waste components. Figure 3 presents these methods. The metal fraction obtained after the mechanical processing step is sent to hydro-, electro and/or pyrometallurgical processes.
Figure 3. Material selection and separation methods based on mineral processing techniques (Andréa & Hugo, 2015).
Hydrometallurgy
The steps in hydrometallurgical processing consist of a number of acidic or caustic attacks to dissolve the solid material. In the following steps, the solutions are subjected to separation processes such as solvent extraction, precipitation, cementation, ion exchange, filtration, and distillation to isolate and concentrate the metals of interest.
The main advantages of hydrometallurgical processing of electronic waste, when compared to pyrometallurgical methods, are:
- The initial Reduced risk of air pollution
- Higher selectivity to metals
- Lower process costs(e.g. low power consumption and reuse of chemical reagents)
The disadvantages are:
- Difficulty in processing more complex electronic scraps
- Need for mechanical pre-treatment of the scrap to reduce the volume
- The chemical dissolution is effective only if the metal is exposed
- The large volume of solutions
- The wastewater can be corrosive, toxic or both
- Generation of solid waste.
Biotechnology
The use of bacteria in metals recycling has been described in the literature, specifically in the dissolution of metals and the recovery of gold from electronic waste. This process is still quite restricted in terms of large-scale implementation, but several studies are being conducted that should be able to produce processes with low operating costs and low investment in equipment, in addition to generating little waste, effluents or toxic gases. The main limitations of biohydrometallurgical processes are the long periods necessary for the leaching and the need for the metal to be exposed, i.e., the metal content must be mainly located on the surface layer.
Electrometallurgy
Most electrometallurgical processes associated with the recycling of electronic waste are steps of the electrowinning process that ultimately seeks to recover a pure metal. Electrochemical processes are usually performed in aqueous electrolytes or molten salts and can be used to recover metals from various types of waste. Metal concentrates obtained by hydrometallurgical processes (e.g., selective dissolution, ion exchange, or solvent extraction) can be electrodeposited from aqueous solutions on the cathode.
The advantages of electrometallurgical processes are:
- Few steps
- Higher selectivity for desired metals
- The electrolyte can be reused
- Pure metals can be obtained
The main limitation is the need for a pre-treatment (usually based on mechanical and hydrometallurgical processes).
Pyrometallurgy
Pyrometallurgical processes, notably smelting, have become a traditional method to recover metals from e-waste. The conventional pyrometallurgical processing mechanism consists essentially of concentrating metals in a metallic phase and rejecting most other materials in a slag and/or gas phase.
Advantages
Pyrometallurgical processing has some advantages, such as:
- Applicability to any type of electronic waste
- No need for pre-treatment
- There are only a few steps in the process
Disadvantages
Some of the methods involving thermal processing of electronic waste, however, can cause the following problems:
- Polymers and other insulating materials become a source of air pollution through the formation of dioxins and furans
- Some metals can be lost through the volatilization of their chlorides
- Ceramic and glass components present in the scrap increase the amount of slag in the furnace, increasing the losses of precious and base metals
- Recovery of some metals is low (e.g. Silicon and Lead) or almost impossible (e.g. Aluminum and Zinc)
The Advantage of E-Waste Recycling
The development of the electronic industry is associated with an increased demand for metals, especially more precious metals (PMs), base metals (copper and tin) (BMs), and more scarce elements (SEs), and leads to increased growth of e-waste [and stronger e waste impact on the environment]. Current recycling processes are capable of recovering <95% of the in-feed metals. Additionally, the presence of PMs makes e-waste recycling attractive economically.
Hence, improved recycling processes can be much cheaper than primary production, primarily because they can use much less energy in the production of the metal. The energy savings for a number of common metals and materials are summarized in Figure 4. About 60–95% energy savings are possible with e-waste recycling. Energy savings are more than 80% for aluminum, copper, and plastics. Recycling often only involves the remelting of metals. The benefits of scrap Iron and steel usage are savings in energy (74%), savings in raw materials use (90%), reduction in air pollution (86%), reduction in water use (40%), reduction in water pollution (76%), reduction in mine wastes (97%), and reduction in consumer wastes generated (100%). Without any loss of performance, copper is 100% recyclable. The recycling of copper requires up to 85% of less energy than primary production. The recycling of old and new scrap produces 9 million tons of copper per year. Around the world, copper recycling alone saves 40 million tons of CO2 (Muammer, 2019).
Figure 4. Recycled material energy savings over virgin materials (Muammer, 2019)
Moreover, the processing of e-waste will reduce the burden on mining ores for primary metals. Therefore, scarce resources especially for PMs could be conserved, e.g., metals that exist at low concentrations in primary ores and consume significant energy during extraction. Factually, e-waste is a rich source of PMs compared to their primary ores. The amount of gold recovered from 1 ton of e-waste from PCs is more than that recovered from 17 tons of gold ore. Generally, 3 g of gold can be extracted from 1 ton of average natural gold ore; but 300 g of gold can be extracted from 1 ton of mobile phone recycling. The processes for recovering PMs from e-waste, in limited cases, are easier than their primary ores. If PMs and SEs are unrecovered, it will be a significant loss of precious scarce resources. The recoveries of PMs and BMs are important for e-waste management, recycling, sustainability, and resource conservation. (Muammer, 2019).
However, raising metal recycling rates, therefore, needs realignment away from a material-centric toward a product-centric approach. A focus on products discloses the various trade-offs between, for example, achieving weight-based policy targets and the excessive energy consumed in efforts to meet these targets.
The following are the challenges for e-waste recycling:
- There are no accurate figures/estimates of the rapidly increasing e-waste generation, disposal, and imports in the world.
- Low/little level of awareness among manufacturers, consumers, and e-waste workers on the hazards of incorrect e-waste disposal/recycling.
- A major portion of e-waste in the world is processed by the informal/unorganized backyard scrap dealers using rudimentary acid leaching and open-air burning techniques which results in severe environmental damage and health hazards.
- Informal recyclers use vulnerable social groups like women, children, immigrants, prisoners, and immigrant workers for high-risk backyard recycling operations.
- Informal recycling only recovers gold, silver, platinum, copper, etc. with substantial losses of material value and resources.
PCB boards
A printed circuit board (PCB) is the board base hardware for physically supporting and wiring the surface-mounted and socketed components in most electronics. According to research published by a group at Harvard in 2020, hardware manufacturing is the dominant source of carbon emissions. The research included reports on the biggest tech companies, including TSMC, Intel, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Apple (Z2Data, 2022).
Printed circuit boards (PCBs), which are present in all types of electronic equipment, are of major interest because they are considered secondary raw materials that are rich in copper and precious metals such as gold, silver and palladium. Generally, e-waste contains 3–5% PCBs which are the most valuable part of e-waste (Muammer, 2019). PCBs are composed of various types of metallic and nonmetallic materials.
The incorrect disposal or the incineration of PCBs without an emissions control system can cause serious environmental problems, particularly through pollution by mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenic (As), dioxins and furans. These substances end up polluting the air, soil or water. Many of these pollutants can persist in the environment since they bioaccumulate up the food chain and pose a risk to human health and to the environment (Andréa & Hugo, 2015). (Muammer, 2019)
In the recycling of printed circuit boards, a single process or a combination of two of the following processes may be used: mechanical processing, hydrometallurgical processing, pyrometallurgical processing and bioleaching. The informal recycling of printed circuit boards, where the scraps are incinerated to obtain precious metals without controlling emissions, or where acids are used for leaching without controlling effluents, are considered causes of serious problems to the environment and people’s health. Studies show that regions where informal recycling plays an important economic role have serious environmental and health problems due to high concentrations of lead (Pb), polybrominated (PBDEs) and polychlorinated dioxins and furans, in addition to polybrominated dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs). The main problems related to this type of pollution are endocrine disruption and neurotoxicity that can persist over generations (Andréa & Hugo, 2015).
PCBs do not have a standard design, in other words, each board is manufactured according to the operating needs of the electronic system of the intended product. They can be classified by their technology: single-sided (with conductive circuits on only one side of the substrate), double-sided (with conductive circuits on both sides of the substrate) and multilayer (with circuits between the substrate layers, which may vary from 4 to 16 layer). Another way of classifying PCBs is based on the material from which its substrate is made. In this classification, the boards are termed commercially as FR-1, FR-2, FR-4 (where FR indicates the presence of the flame-retardants) and CEM-x (Andréa & Hugo, 2015). PCB boards can also be classified as bare/unpopulated and populated PCB with ECs (Figure 5) and PCB contents can be seen in Table 1.
Figure 5. PCB types (Muammer, 2019)
Table 1. PCB material composition (Muammer, 2019)
The boards of type FR-1 and FR-2 are made of cellulose paper impregnated with phenolic resin, while the type FR-4 boards are made of fiberglass and epoxy resin. The boards of the type CEM-x are made of composites produced with fiberglass and cellulose paper with epoxy resin. Boards can also be made of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polyester. In computers, mobiles phones and other communication equipment, FR-4 boards are usually used, while in televisions and home appliances FR-2 boards are used (Andréa & Hugo, 2015).
As mentioned by Schneider Electric, billions of chips are fabricated yearly, and the production of one single chip requires approximately 32 liters of water, 2.5 oz of chemicals and 1.6kg of petroleum. TSMC, alone emitted around 15 million tons of CO2 in 2020 with its annual electricity consumption, estimated to be nearly 5 per cent of Taiwan’s entire electricity usage.
According to The Guardian, Intel’s 700-acre campus in Ocotillo, Arizona, produced nearly 15,000 tons of waste in the first three months of 2021, consumed 927m gallons of fresh water, enough to fill about 1,400 Olympic swimming pools, and used 561m kilowatt-hours of energy. This year alone over 20 million tons of e-waste has been disposed of worldwide. Much of which is disposed of in regular landfills leading to heavy metals contaminating the soil and groundwater (Z2Data, 2022).
PCBs are normally separated from e-waste, picked up by hand and sold to the non-ferrous metal market because PCBs include a high grade of copper and other valuable metals. However, PCBs also contain other metals and have impurities such as silicon, aluminum, and iron, which are slag materials in the non-ferrous smelting process, and also other harmful elements such as zinc, lead, bromine, and antimony. The content of plastics in e-waste is also not negligible (Andréa & Hugo, 2015).
Batteries
Lithium-ion (Lion) batteries have been instrumental in powering the modern-day world. However, numerous issues have been raised about whether batteries should continue to play a significant role as the world progresses toward a greener future. electronics. The anode of the battery is typically constructed of graphite (carbon), and the cathode is usually made up of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) or lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) separated by electrolyte-filled porous separators. Cathodes and anodes are linked to current collector terminals, and the electrode package is enclosed in a case (Ali, 2022).
The main advantages of lithium-ion batteries over other batteries are high energy capacity, a large number of charge-discharge cycles, and low self-discharge. It is used as an energy storage device in power systems and a power source in electric vehicles (Ali, 2022).
Lithium mining in Andean countries is carried out using saline water. Even though it is not suitable for drinking, the absence of saline water can significantly impact water and environmental resources. One ton of lithium requires a staggering 2.2 million gallons of water. More than half of the water in Chile’s Salar de Atacama has been used by mining activities in the region, significantly impacting local farmers. Lithium batteries contain potentially toxic nickel, copper, and lead materials. When disposed of improperly, used batteries can lead to an environmental disaster, and if stored uncontrolled, they become explosive (Ali, 2022).
Cobalt (Co) is mainly found in spent Lion batteries. Lion batteries can be used in electrical vehicles and renewable energy storage devices in the future. Lion batteries may typically contain 27.5% LiCoO2. The electrode materials account for around 44% of the whole battery value with Li-Co-O-based cathode materials of 30% and graphite anode materials of 14%. For spent Lion battery recycling, physical processing, e.g., mechanical degradation and thermal treatment, and chemical processing, e.g., leaching (acidic, basic, or bio) and solvent extraction, precipitation, and electrochemical processing, can be used. Lithium and Cobalt can be leached using inorganic H2SO4, HCl, or HNO3 acids or using organic acids (citric or oxalate) with H2O2 oxidant presence or absence at 60–80oC. More than 90% Li and Co recoveries were obtained. In spent Lion batteries, the values of Co, Li, and Cu metals are 47.7%, 28.7%, and 19.8%, respectively (Muammer, 2019).
Figure 6 shows Umicore’s battery recycling flowsheet for end-of-life Lion and NiMH batteries. Smelting and Co-Ni refining sections recover Li(OH)2, LiMeO2, and Rare Earth Oxides (REOs). Final slags are sent to the construction sector.
Figure 6. Umicore’s battery recycling plant flowsheet (Muammer, 2019)
The first industrial-scale end-of-life portable NiMH battery recycling process was developed by Rhodia and Umicore. Cooperation with Rhodia-Umicore produces Rare-earth elements (REEs) concentrate. Umicore separates REOs from harmful elements, while Rhodia refines REE concentrate. Recycling cannot replace the primary mining of rare-earth ores but complements mining. Recycling REEs is recommended for the efficient use of natural resources and supply of critical raw materials and solves the balance problem. Most interesting waste streams for REE recycling NdFeB magnets, lamp phosphors, and NiMH batteries. REE recycling is technologically challenging, but not impossible. Ionic liquids are useful for the recovery of REEs (Muammer, 2019).
Meanwhile, some companies attempted to create greener alternatives. For instance, IBM has invented a battery free of nickel, cobalt, and other metals, avoiding the health and environmental concerns of lithium-ion batteries. The battery is built using materials taken from saltwater, which is a considerably less invasive means of sourcing than mining (Ali, 2022).
They also demonstrated that the battery beats Li-ion alternatives, indicating that it can improve energy storage and electric vehicles. Furthermore, reaching an 80 per cent charge takes only five minutes. The safer, non-flammable battery will be cost-effective due to the unique materials-sourcing technique (Ali, 2022).
AquaBattery, a Dutch startup, has invented a battery that only employs saltwater as a storage medium. Simply adding water reservoirs or using larger tanks increases the storage capacity. Unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries, the team’s technique uses non-toxic and abundant elements such as water and table salt. This provides fire and health protection while also reducing carbon emissions. AquaBattery claims that its solution will be highly scalable, low-cost and long-lasting (Ali, 2022).
Apple has opened a 9,000 sq ft facility in Austin, Texas, named the Material Recovery Lab, dedicated to the development of novel recycling processes. The lab will investigate how robotics and machine learning can improve on traditional recycling methods such as targeted disassembly, sorting, and shredding. Apple currently uses its Daisy robot to disassemble 15 different iPhone models at a rate of 200 per hour and up to 1.2 million devices per year. Apple is now taking materials that the robot recovers and feeding them back into its manufacturing processes. Apple is for the first time recovering cobalt from iPhone batteries to make brand-new batteries. The California firm says it has recently quadrupled the number of locations where its US customers can take their old iPhones to be recycled (Scott, 2019).
Meanwhile, Tesla is developing a unique electric-car-battery recycling system at its Gigafactory 1 battery production plant in Reno, Nevada. The plan is to process manufacturing scrap and end-of-life batteries into raw materials to be reused by the company, Tesla states in a recently published impact report. The Gigafactory currently makes more than 3 million battery cells per day. (Scott, 2019) Metals that will be recovered and then reprocessed into new batteries include lithium, cobalt, copper, aluminum, and steel. Tesla expects its approach will generate significant economic savings over the long term by reducing purchasing and transport of new materials (Scott, 2019).
Compliance expert Clive Greenwood discussed how hazardous the disposal of Lithium-ion batteries can be and what an ecological problem they are in this episode of the Sofeast podcast – the growing scale of the problem they pose to the environment, especially as EVs become more popular, is simply staggering.
ABS/ PC Enclosures
ABS/ PC Enclosures mostly can be found in laptop enclosures. Laptop enclosures are manufactured from fossil fuel-based plastics, biomaterials, metals, or a combination thereof to identify what aspects of these materials must be improved to promote environmental sustainability within the consumer electronics market. To support sustainable materials management, Apple Inc. has opted to make aluminum-based enclosures to promote recycling during end-of-life. The ratio of PC to ABS in the laptop enclosure was assumed to be 3-1 (Meyer & Katz, 2016).
However, non-metallic electrical enclosures have proven themselves time and again in toughness, reliability and aesthetics. They’re competitive options with metallic enclosures for many applications and, for some, they offer even better performance. [There are] two main [plastic] types for non-metallic enclosures: polycarbonate and ABS. If you’re seeking high-performance enclosures at a competitive price, either can be an excellent choice (polycase.com, 2019).
Polycarbonate (PC) is a relatively heavy-duty thermoplastic commonly used for industrial and engineering applications where tough performance is a must, such as construction plastics. It’s well-known in manufacturing industries for its lightness and resilience, and it’s widely used in applications such as safety glasses, lighting equipment, medical devices and much more (polycase.com, 2019). Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS, is another relatively rugged thermoplastic material that offers great performance at a lower cost than polycarbonate. This polymer is widely used for consumer applications such as luggage, toys and musical instruments, but also has numerous applications in the electronic and industrial fields (polycase.com, 2019). The life cycle of a PC-ABS laptop enclosure is shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. The cradle-to-grave life cycle of a PC-ABS laptop enclosure using either BDP or TPP flame retardant and the option to recycle or landfill waste plastics (Meyer & Katz, 2016)
Similar to other plastic products, when not recycled the ABS/PC enclosures are potential risks to the environment. The inclusion of flame retardant and filler in ABS/PC laptop enclosures substantially increased the global warming potential from 5.7 kg CO2 eq per laptop to 23.4 kg CO2 eq per laptop. The recycling of ABS enclosures requires mixing with virgin ABS to make new products, [therefore the e waste impact on the environment of plastic enclosures is a real problem.] (Meyer & Katz, 2016).
Hazardous and useful elements/chemical substances contained in e-waste
Here’s a list of the elements and chemical substances that can be found in e-waste. Some can be reused and are valuable, but many are hazardous.
Conclusion: What are the environmental impacts of consumer electronics
Resource depletion, gas emissions, labour exploitation, hazardous chemical and plastic waste, and negative health impacts are all consequences of consumer electronics.
Some regions like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe regulates the recycling processes of this growing range of e-waste. Yet, a considerable number of products end up in landfills. The reason for this can be linked to the complex, time-consuming, and expensive recycling processes and the following challenges that we are facing:
- We need more data to track the amount of e-waste, disposal, and import worldwide.
- The current recycling process consists of acid leaching and open-air burning techniques, resulting in extreme pollution and health hazards.
- Manufacturers, consumers, and e-waste workers need to be more aware of the hazards that incorrect disposal/recycling of e-waste can bring us.
- Labour exploitation is a severe issue even during the recycling process, as many informal recyclers are informal backyard recycling operations that lead to the exploitation of vulnerable social groups like women, children, prisoners, and immigrant workers.
- Material value at resources might get lost significantly if the recycling processes are done informally.
Hopefully, by now you can see that the E waste impact on the environment is a serious issue for humanity and requires further effort in terms of recycling and product design.
Editor’s note
This guide was produced by researching information about the environmental impact of electronic products. Excerpts from multiple sources have been quoted directly here with each source given on the page.
Further reading
Now that you’ve finished reading about E Waste impact on the environment you can keep learning about how to become a greener manufacturer or about related topics to those in this analysis by reading, listening to, and viewing these resources:
- Green manufacturing resources (there are many great posts, videos, and guides here)
- EU ESPR is Coming in 2023: Act Now to become more Sustainable. [Podcast]
- Plastic Enclosures for Electronics Projects (Plastics Sourcing Guide)
