THE RECYCLING OF MATERIALS AND REPRODUCING TO NEW MATERIALS

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Description

The average life expectancy of a TV is 2 years and that of a computer 3 years. These low life expectancies lead to considerable e-waste worldwide. This has sparked an interest in E-cycling; the recycling of e-waste. Some computer components can be reused in assembling new computer products, while others are reduced to metals that can be reused in applications as varied as construction, flatware, and jewelry.

In the past decades, large quatities of e-waste have been shipped from the developed countries to the developing countries. Causing all sorts of health and environmental hazards. Often the materials, which contain toxic components, end up in the country-side, where the local people have little knowledge of the dangers associated with taking the components apart. This practise has increasing been the focus of media attention and therewith condemmed.

The environmental and social benefits of reuse include diminished demand for new products and virgin raw materials (with their own environmental issues); larger quantities of pure water and electricity for associated manufacturing; less packaging per unit; availability of technology to wider swaths of society due to greater affordability of products; and diminished use of landfills.

Even the manufacturers are embracing the e-cycling principle. For example; HP and Dell now actively takes back computers to recycle. They will even pick up the obsolete computer at your home. Dell is even embracing the cradle-to-cradle principle, which focusses on the total life-cycle of components and aims to truly recycle instead of down-cycle.

Picture of a recycling

Enablers

  • Research and Development: Materials Engineering.;
  • Increased concerns with the Environment: global warming, rapid depletion of natural resources, etc.;
  • World economy: the higher demand is for computers, the more resources are needed, the more valuable recycling of these resources will be;
  • Recycling lobby: the NGO’s geared towards recycling are gaining ground and popularity, they are also gaining political backing;
  • Governments; legislation and leading by example;
  • Cradle-to-cradle thinking: design products with the re-use and re-cycling in mind, this combats down-cycling of metarials;

Inhibitors

  • Indifference of people: in general recycling will take some effort on the part of consumers, with increasing individualism the attention to social responsibility is strained;
  • Low cost of discarding of e-waste: due to the low cost of discarding of waste in many parts of the world, there is little incentive to recycle;
  • Reluctance of emerging economies to adhere to waste reduction programs: emerging economies increasingly feel pressure from the developed countries to adhere to strict programs of environmental protection, they feel this dampens their growth.

Paradigms

True recycling (contrary to down-cycling) will increasingly gain ground and will significantly reduce the need for new resources. It will also continue to spark the development of new materials with less adverse environmental impact.

Expert

William McDonough
Michael Braungart

Timing

Recycling has been a common practice for most of human history, with recorded advocates as far back as Plato in 400 BC.

In pre-industrial times, there is evidence of scrap bronze and other metals being collected in Europe and melted down for perpetual reuse.

In both world wars, the shortages of resources sparked increased recycling efforts out of pure necessity.

In the 1970’s the oil crisis and the accompanying sharp rise in energy cost, encouraged big investments in recycling.

Since the 1990’s recycling is steadily gaining ground and increasingly a part of life. Separate waste collection at the curbside is commonplace in the developed world. However, the developing world is lagging behing considerably.

Web Resource

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