View source for What’s mobile waste’s influence on our environment?

The number of unused or retired phones will keep growing year after year, posing an ever increasing problem for the environment. Only this Christmas the stockpile will grow even larger as new gifts make old phones obsolete. Most mobile phones have components that require specialist treatment to minimize their impact on the environment. The content of mobile phones varies from model to model, and as the technology advances so we will see changes in the composition. 
<br /><br />
Mobile phones and accessories contain concentrations of toxic heavy metals or other metals including cadmium, lead, nickel, mercury, manganese, lithium, zinc, arsenic, antimony, beryllium, and copper. 
<br /><br />
Metals such as these are considered as: 
#Persistent (ie don't degrade in the environment)
#Bioaccumulative (ie build up in fatty tissue so can reach toxic levels over time) 
<br />
If any of these metals are allowed to leak into the environment, e.g. in a landfill when NiCd battery cases rupture or corrode, in significant quantities, they may leach into the water courses or contaminate the soil. Metals build up in the soil and they can then enter the food chain and in sufficient concentrations may cause health problems. 
<br /><br />
Chemicals such as these are associated with a range of adverse human health effects, including damage to the nervous system, reproductive and developmental problems, cancer and genetic impacts.
<br /><br />
Cadmium for example is considered as the 7th most dangerous substance known to man. It is a toxic heavy metal that can harm humans and animals that ingest it. It is also carcinogenic. 
<br /><br />
The health effects of lead poisoning are well known. If lead is absorbed into the bloodstream in sufficient quantities it will cause serious liver and kidney damage in adults and neurological damage in children. 
<br /><br />
Nickel and mercury are toxic and are classed as hazardous substance. Although Li-Ion batteries are free of heavy metals (lithium has a low atomic number), lithium's high degree of chemical activity can create environmental problems. When exposed to water, which is present in most landfills, the metal can burn, causing underground fires that are difficult to extinguish. 
<br /><br />
Landfill is not sustainable. Dumping mobile phones creates long term pollution risk to the environment.

<b>Source:</b> http://www.arp.net.au/envcha.php
<br><br><br><br>
<p align="right">''Go back to [[Next_generation_mobile_devices_2015]]''</p>