E-Waste

ABSTRACT

Access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is pivotal of a country’s economic and social development and is currently improving throughout the developed and developing world. Still there is a relevant difference in access to ICT between developed and developing countries, which is commonly referred to as the ”digital divide”. Nigeria has been undergoing rapid ICT trans- formation in recent years, attempting to bridge this divide by importing new, second-hand or used computers, mobile phones, and TV sets from developed countries. These appliances together with other electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) are also contributing to the ever growing amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or e-waste for short, when they reach their end of life.

This report presents a national e-waste assessment for Nigeria and investigates the situation with regard to e-waste which aimed at to tackle the growing problem of e-waste and thereby protect the health of citizens, particularly children, while providing economic opportunities.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWELDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0      INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• AIM OF THE PROJECT
• OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
• PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT
• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT
• LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

CHAPTER TWO

2.0      LITERATURE REVIEW

• DEFINITION OF E-WASTE
• OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
• ELECTRONIC WASTE GENERATION
• CONCERN OVER E-WASTE COMPOSITION
• REVIEW OF E-WASTE IN NIGERIA
• CLASSIFICATION OF E-WASTE

CHAPTER THREE

3.0     METHODOLOGY

3.1      METHOD OF MINIMIZING E-WASTE

3.2     IMPACTS OF E-WASTE ON HUMAN HEALTH

3.3    ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF E-WASTE

CHAPTER FOUR

• NATIONAL LAWS RELATING TO E­WASTE CONTROL
• E-WASTE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORKS
• ELECTRONIC WASTE SUBSTANCES

CHAPTER FIVE

• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION
• REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                        INTRODUCTION

1.1                                           BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Electronic waste, also called e-waste, is various forms of electric and electronic equipment that have ceased to be of value to their users or no longer satisfy their original purpose. Electronic waste (e-waste) products have exhausted their utility value through either redundancy, replacement, or breakage and include both “white goods” such as refrigerators, washing machines, and microwaves and “brown goods” such as televisions, radios, computers, and cell phones. Given that the information and technology revolution has exponentially increased the use of new electronic equipment, it has also produced growing volumes of obsolete products; e-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams. Although e-waste contains complex combinations of highly toxic substances that pose a danger to health and the environment, many of the products also contain recoverable precious materials, making it a different kind of waste compared with traditional municipal waste. lobally, e-waste constitutes more than 5 percent of all municipal solid waste and is increasing with the rise of sales of electronic products in developing countries. The majority of the world’s e-waste is recycled in developing countries, where informal and hazardous setups for the extraction and sale of metals are common. Recycling companies in developed countries face strict environmental regulatory regimes and an increasing cost of waste disposal and thus may find exportation to small traders in developing countries more profitable than recycling in their own countries. There is also significant illegal transboundary movement of e-waste in the form of donations and charity from rich industrialized nations to developing countries. E-waste profiteers can harvest substantial profits owing to lax environmental laws, corrupt officials, and poorly paid workers, and there is an urgent need to develop policies and strategies to dispose of and recycle e-waste safely in order to achieve a sustainable future.

1.2                                                  PROBLEM STATEMENT

Information and telecommunications technology (ICT) and computer Internet networking has penetrated nearly every aspect of modern life, and is positively affecting human life even in the most remote areas of developing countries (Osibanjo and Nnorom 2007).

Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) have been instrumental to the revolution witnessed in various sectors of human endeavor around the world; in communication, entertainment, transport, education, and health care sectors. As there appears to be no signs of this revolution slowing down soon so also the growing concern on the increasing e-waste arising from the ICT sector.

There is a large digital divide in most developing countries, and only a small number of wealthy people have access to certain ICT-wares especially the branded new equipment. Consequently, most of the low-income earners rely on used ICT-wares considering that branded new electronic goods are relatively expensive for ordinary people.

While there are many factors contributing to the digital divide, the high price of information technology hardware is no doubt a significant one. Domestic and international trade in used EEE presents a possible important avenue to stimulate the dissemination of information technology and bridging the gap between the “haves” and the ‘have nots”. However, imports of used or rather end-of-life (EoL) electronics to the developing countries is a double-edged sword: the positive potential also carries with it the risk of becoming a dumping ground for waste equipment from rich developed countries (Schmidt 2006; Puckett et al. 2005).

Globally, e-waste is growing as consumers, in both developed and developing nations, buy new gadgets and discard their old ones. According to studies by the United Nations, anywhere between 20 and 50 million tonnes of e-waste are generated globally, an amount growing at a rate nearly three times faster than the overall municipal solid waste stream (Schluep et al. 2009). Electronic waste or e-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams around the world, growing at a rate of 3–5% per annum or approximately three times faster than normal municipal solid waste. Today, the amount of e-waste is rapidly growing in developing countries as they join the global information society.

At present electronic appliances are rarely disposed of in an adequate manner and there is little regulation in place, creating hazards for local populations, as well as for the environment. While the environmental services industry has developed into a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide, it is largely absent in developing coun- tries. This is both a missed business opportunity and a threat since the electronic waste contained in used computers consists of high-value components such as copper and gold, but also highly toxic substances such as lead, mercury and arsenic.

1.3                                                     AIM OF THE STUDY

E-waste is a growing concern and there has been a rapid increase in health hazards because of discharging the toxic materials into the environment. The main aim of this study is to carry out a research on electronic waste.

1.4                                               OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are:

1. to ensure that environmental factors are considered in the decision making process while likely adverse/hazardous environmental impacts are identified and
2. To reduce Harmful Waste

• To understand the national environmental (Sanitation and Waste Control) Regulation

1. Enhance environmental governance of e-wastes in African countries;
2. Build capacity to monitor and control e-waste imports coming from the developed world
3. Protect the health of citizens;

• Provide economic

1.5                                                PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this work is to help businesses and organizations in getting rid of obsolete electronics and safeguard the environment.

1.6                                           SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It then became imperative to determine the influx of second hand electrical and electronic equipment into the country, the flow of e-waste stock and generation in and out of the country to support the institutional framework policy on e-waste.

An important issue is the present use of inappropriate management routes in e-waste management in most developing countries and the absence of regulation/legislation and take-back schemes

Hence the need for this project which aims at providing information on flows of used and end-of-life e- products into Nigeria, create awareness on potential hazards of importation of un-usable e-products and the adoption of inappropriate management practices for e-waste, and help develop environmentally sound management (ESM) practices for e-waste.

1.7                                                              LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The main Limitation in the course of this project was the fact that some companies and households did not want to divulge information on how exactly their electronic wastes are handled.