TECHNOLOGY AND POLLUTION

Is Modern Technology Polluting the World?

Is Modern Technology Polluting the World?

Introduction

The development of the digital society creates an energy over-consumption and a steady increase in products, materials and electronic waste. The government and industry begin to take stock of the environmental costs of the new economy and act timidly. However, for now, these are the emerging countries and their people who pay the tribute, risking their environment and their health. The question here is that, what happened to the mountains monitors, CPUs, keyboards, printers and peripherals of all kinds when they are obsolete or useless?

From 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste, piling up in the world believes that volume increases from 3 to 5% per year, determined through a United Nations study in 2005. In France, they produce a present average of 25 kg of WEEE (waste electrical and electronic) per year per person, and the 25 kg, 8% - less than 2 kg - pass through a die to collect and eventually recycling a quarter of them. In Europe, it is, according to a report by the European Union, nearly 36 tons of mercury and 16 tones of cadmium that are discarded each year in the atmosphere, mainly due to the incineration of WEEE. This is yet the only visible part of the iceberg. The increase of the computer also induces energy cost, and, therefore, environmental pollution becomes higher and higher. Besides these devices, the Internet infrastructure itself attracts a large amount of energy resources.

Emerging countries, trash from the West

Recycling e-waste is complex and requires the handling of components harmful to health and the environment. There is little or no cost effective solution. So, developed countries, that are sending their waste in the emerging countries, are turning a blind eye on the methods that used locally.

The extensive pollution affects the industry of Asia and Africa. The Basel Action Network (BAN) identifies the dump, chains and all abuses of electric and electronic pollution. According to it, more than 500 containers of used computer equipment are landed each month in Nigeria to be repaired and reused. However, nearly three-quarters of each cargo reveal unusable, and no precautions are abandoned in large landfills. Toxics Alert estimated in a report published in 2004 that 70% of WEEE going to landfill in New Delhi came from exports of industrial countries. The methods used in poor countries to reprocess the ...