We are surrounded by technology today. Each and every year, more products and services are produced and during the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has served as our way to stay connected to the world while isolated. We have turned to technology to communicate, shop, work from home, and empower our everyday lives in the midst of what seems to be utter chaos.
But with our growing reliance on technology we are witnessing an unintended consequence, increasing amounts of electronic waste (E-waste).
What happens to all the technology we buy and use when it becomes outdated?
To a large degree, discarded electronics end up in landfills along with so many other byproducts of our throw-away lifestyle. And that’s a big problem because E-waste contributes to harming the environment.
For example, in the United States, E-waste makes up approximately 2% of the total waste found in landfills, but 70% of the toxic waste which means it has a disproportionately damaging impact on soil, groundwater, animal and plant life, and human health and well-being.
The damage caused by the materials in E-waste as they break down can lead to diminished lung capacity, other respiratory problems, impaired thyroid function, and increased risk of diseases such as cancer in nearby residing human populations according to the World Health Organization. Children growing up near landfills contaminated by E-waste are at the greatest risk.
Why is this happening? Because, for the most part, E-waste disposal in general landfill sites remains unregulated. With E-waste management protocols, however, and recycling programs, the effects can be mitigated over the long term. But this requires an effort by companies and governments.
Currently, the vast majority of E-waste is not being managed responsibly. Only about 12.5% is currently being dealt with appropriately to lessen the environmental impact and recover materials that can be used in other products. And because E-waste is estimated to be the fastest-growing waste stream in the United States according to the Environmental Protection Agency, much of it is seen as actually marketable through material recovery or refurbishment and upcycling.
But electronic recycling is limited, with companies often restricting what they accept and limiting when and how they will take new items. Perhaps it isn’t surprising that so much e-waste is finding its way to the landfills, regardless of its potential for upcycling. If you are not familiar with the term upcycling, it is a process of transforming waste material into new products with greater value. And with E-waste predicted to double by 2050, it would appear that is an unrealized business opportunity. And as more companies buy into business principles to “do no harm” and begin to adopt circular economic practices, the future may turn E-waste into a significant profit centre by mid-century and beyond. That’s because circular economic principles when adopted by businesses end waste and pollution once and for all.
As responsible leaders in the community, business owners have a strong obligation to be good environmental stewards. Implementing company-wide measures that support environmental sustainability including the management of the electronic technology the business uses including obsolescence can be handled in a variety of ways. For example, a business can:
The extent to which companies can implement these practices depends on the volume of electronics being used and obsolescence periodicity. Circumstances obviously will vary. But that shouldn’t stop every company from facing the E-waste issue head-on.
Based on expert predictions, E-waste as an environmental problem is expected to continue to grow. We may find ourselves reaching a point in time, not too far in the future, where our landfill sites may be so stuffed with unwanted old electronics we will have created a future environmental nightmare. That’s why each and every one of us has a responsibility to do what we can to prevent E-waste from being disposed of in a way that needlessly impacts the environment. For 21st century businesses, as leaders in local communities, that responsibility is a burden that must be taken up.
]]>But much of what we recycle does not get sold and ends up in long-term storage or in landfill. There is an enormous cost to building this recycling infrastructure. What if we could find another way to extract the value of recyclables from the waste stream without all of the collecting, sorting and storage? That’s what waste-to-resource technology is all about.
In the last week Wood Buffalo, Alberta, announced an initiative to convert waste into resources without recycling. Residents will place all materials in regular garbage for pickup. Instead of cleaning off the residue from metal cans after emptying them, residents will just throw them in the trash with everything else. No sorting, no separating required.
When collected the residual organic material within the garbage will be converted to energy through gasification and the metal from the can will be recovered. Combustible material will be converted to energy. This will eliminate the need for landfill sites permanently. In Northern Canada, landfill is even a bigger problem than in the South. Winter freezes and permafrost make developing garbage storage sites environmentally challenging.
Wood Buffalo is one of those northern municipalities. Located in northeastern Alberta, the area encompasses 68,454 square kilometers (26,430 square miles). This makes it one of the largest regional municipalities in North America containing within its area 11 towns, from Fort Fitzgerald in the north to Fort McMurray, in the centre and Conklin in the south. The total population in 2010 was 104,338 with 75% living in Fort McMurray, the heart of the oil sands.
The waste-to-resource technology announcement appeared in a special report entitled “The Future of the Oil Sands” published in The Globe & Mail, one of Canada’s national newspapers.
Is this more about public relations? Is this just a cleverly designed incineration process? Or does the project actually produce a net technology gain while improving the environmental impact of our throw away society?
