E-Waste Recycling

In June, when Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave a frank speech at Stanford University, the plane flew over the stadium and said, "Steve - not a mini player - recycle all electronic waste" , The latest gimbal of the Computer Recycling Campaign (CTBC), an environmental movement supported by a radical group that Apple criticized for its recycling efforts to be behind other computer industries. According to the paper, Apple recently announced that it will accept free iPod recycling at all stores in exchange for a 10% discount when purchasing a new iPod.

Guiyu is probably one of the oldest and largest unofficial electronic waste recycling stations in the world, but there are many web sites all over the world, such as India, Ghana, Nigeria, the Philippines and so on. Although most studies involving informal e-waste recycling are taking place in Guiyu, some studies describe exposure levels in electronic waste workers, communities and the environment. For example, local people and migrant workers living in the territory of Northern Territory in India use toxic and dangerous ways to remove obsolete computer equipment and extract base metals. Bangalore is located in southern India, often referred to as "Indian Silicon Valley", and the number of informal e-waste recycling departments is increasing. Hair samples were collected from Bangalore's electronic waste recycling facility and electronic waste recycling slum community workers. However, slum community workers have significantly higher levels of Co, Ag, Cd and Hg than facility workers.

The results of exposure to heavy metals through inappropriate recycling of electronic waste are well documented. At Guiyu in China, electronic waste recycling capital of the world has often been created and donors of 169 children are tested for lead concentration. Over 82% of people show leads much higher than average. The highest concentration is direct decomposition of printed circuit boards and other electronic equipment by the family's children. Other heavy metals may have similar effects both in this generation and in the next generation and disturb long-term neurological effects

If electronic waste is not properly recycled, electronic waste recycling practices around the world will not be subject to regulatory or informal monitoring and the soil may be directly contaminated by: Other valuable substances, (b) decomposition of electronic waste, coarse particles and bottom ash by crushing or combustion, (c) leaching of unrecovered heavy metals during recovery to soil. In the method of extracting precious metals from electronic waste such as amalgamation and leaching of cyanide, there is a possibility of releasing additional harmful substances into the soil. Demolition also releases large coarse particles into the air, which quickly redeposit on the ground and subsequently contaminate the soil due to their size and weight. After a similar process, incompletely recycled heavy metals also contaminate the lower soil.