E-waste: udfordringer for genanvendelse og globale løsninger

The news article from 2011 broadcasted by VOA (voice of America) and narrated by Rebecca Ward, depicts the current issue of electronic equipment going to waste and never get recycled. Many of the materials used in our electronics are precious metals like gold and palladium. The news story starts out telling the story of E-structures, a recycling firm based in Washington. The CEO of the company explains the different processes of recycling used electronic parts like microchips, wiring and mercury tubes. She explains the high levels of regulations that are present throughout the whole process. U.S environmental protection agency estimate that 80% of U.S electronics is sent to a junkyard instead of being recycled, which is estimated to be around 1.5 million metric tons. Jim Puckett of The Basel Action Network explains the downside of the increased recycling, as a large part of used electronics is sent to Africa and Asia to be taken apart by lowly paid workers in poor conditions. This leads to serious pollution and health issues in these countries. The American government has proposed a bill to prevent electronics of being shipped to developing countries, but as of now has yet to be implemented because of opposition from recycling firms.