Is Electronic waste a real problem?

2.1 Introduction

In New York City, Electronic waste is a problem in schools and especially Career and Technical Education schools. However, Electronic waste is commonly believed to only be generated by objects such as from computer repair classes. The same materials that these classes work with are the same materials that are found in fully functional electronic devices that are found in common academic classes such as any English or social studies or science. These devices include but are not limited to; MacBooks, tablets, iPads, and laptops. It is arguable that the disposal of electronic devices in classes such as this is even more harmful to the environment and needs to be amended more urgently than Career and technical education programs. Whereas in Career and Technical Education programs, there are already manufacturers that are on standby to be able to come in to collect the E-waste that was generated by their brand, in traditional academic classes usually such policies either don’t exist or are delayed therefore posing more of a vulnerability. By looking through different websites and policies set by the Department of Education and Department of Sanitation it is easier to understand why so many pieces of Electronic waste go unaccounted for and end up in locations that they are not supposed to be in. According to an article from ​RecycleNation ​from 2017, although electronic waste only makes up 2% of all waste found in all United States landfills, it accounts for 70% of toxic waste. While 2% may sound like a negligible amount, which equates to 560 million pounds of electronic waste. This asserts that although electronic waste is not a large component of all the waste in the United States, it does outweigh the other 98% of waste in the aspect of the hazardous risks that it poses such as lung cancer and first and second-degree burns. By conducting short surveys in Thomas A. Edison CTE High School, a deeper understanding of why students aren’t motivated to practice proper disposal of electronics has emerged.

2.2 Past Research

Electronic waste generated in NYC public High Schools has not been found to be a significant problem. According to the New York Department of Education program Zero Waste, Electronic waste is considered “other” as opposed to “recyclable”. Even within the “other category” which only makes up for 2% of all NYC public High School waste, E-waste only makes up 0.08% of the 2% of the “other” section in which electronic waste is categorized. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 97% of schools have at least one instructional computer located in classrooms which does not consist of computer carts or other laptops that are found in carts. While this may seem irrelevant it does show that while 2% sounds like an insignificant amount of waste in landfills, it does include the computers of all the classrooms in New York City. This then helps show how large of a number 2% really is as it equates to 560 million pounds. The NCES also reports that 58% of schools had laptops on carts. With the average cart fitting 30 laptops and there being one cart for every four classrooms, it becomes easier to calculate how many laptops are generally in a high school. By the number of laptops that are allocated per classroom in each and every school, we can see that a school even on the smaller side easily surpasses 370 laptops per school simply allocated for in-school research and usage by students and not including computer labs, tablets, computers for teacher usage or any other type of device. The average laptop weighs 5.07 pounds and if this is multiplied by the thousands of laptops in New York City schools it begins to have a detrimental effect on the environment since every five years these devices are replaced. This is not inclusive to the other devices that are used for instructional purposes. With New York City goals to have a 1:1 device to student ratio, the amount of electronic waste that is generated will increase at an exponential rate in the coming years. While current electronic waste programs already exist, due to the lack of people that believe that it is an actual problem, people don’t learn about the programs as they are also not advertised to the public and need to be researched to be found.

2.3 The Effects

Without proper isolation and disposal methods, unregulated e-waste poses a risk to local communities, and to the international population due to dumping. When materials like computer batteries which contain and often leak hazardous materials such as lithium-ion, are left exposed to the elements, they can explode. This can lead to second-degree burns and contaminate water supplies that not only provide for the wildlife population but the very water supplies that provide for our communities as well. This ends up affecting citizens, animals, the environment, and the international community by poisoning water and food supplies and even causing habitat loss because of the toxicity and radiation all because of improper disposal and isolation of Electronic waste.

2.4 Misinformation

With E-waste making up such a minuscule part of all waste generated by New York City schools, it is easy to see why it is not considered such a serious problem. Contrary to this belief, it is more accurate to compare the effects of Electronic waste when improperly disposed to the effects of regular waste. By doing this, Electronic waste is easily recognizable as a large problem in disposal sites. When the materials that are found in Electronic waste are exposed to the elements or are mixed in with other waste streams that may cause chemical reactions, it releases the poisonous gases into the atmosphere that can increase the chances of diseases to all that are affected. While this is a concern for all citizens, The World Health Organization states that this is especially a concern for young children due to children having a younger and more vulnerable lung capacity.

Other sources of misinformation that make it difficult to identify true electronic waste that requires additional information include the individual engineering that varies per manufacturer for electronic equipment. One example of this is the energizer lithium recyclable batteries. Whereas normal lithium-ion batteries require special disposal at Staples or other disposal sites where special safety protocols are used to prevent hazards, recyclable batteries by energizer claim to be recyclable with other regular recyclable waste. While this a step in the right direction it does lead to unintended consequences. When consumers use recyclable batteries from manufacturers that allow for regular disposal it can lead to these same consumers improperly disposing of other manufacturer brand batteries because consumers assume other brands can be disposed of in the same way. A simple random sample was done in Thomas A. Edison CTE HS in a senior class consisting of 20 students in which 13 respondents believed that computer batteries can be disposed of in a regular waste stream garbage bin. This shows that in this sample 65% of the sample size was misinformed on electronic waste disposal.

2.5 Intra-School Study

By doing a research study in the tenth and eleventh-grade cybersecurity classes at Thomas A Edison CTE HS, this was proven to be a problem. Students are more likely to improperly dispose of electronic waste if it is in their class because of the belief that the disposal of one type of waste is the same as the other types of electronic waste. In classrooms, from a personal observational study and survey, it was found that students are less motivated to follow proper disposal policies due to two reasons. The first reason is that many teachers don’t carefully observe students and their practice of disposal so the lack of consequences for improper disposal practices leaves students feeling less motivated to do what is right because it is less convenient to them. A lack of standardized lessons on the disposal of electronic waste also serves to make it harder for students to understand what they are expected to do. The second reason is a common belief that custodians and janitors will sort through the school’s waste and organize it for them. After surveying a tenth and eleventh-grade cybersecurity class the general idea from the class was that the disposal of any type of waste including electronic waste is the job of a custodian or janitor and not the student. The belief that custodians will do their job for them leave students less likely to do it themselves. Students used phrases including “It’s not my responsibility” and “ that’s their job” to describe their personal responsibility in proper disposal. According to ​PopulationEducation, by increasing student education and awareness on Electronic waste, programs, and projects that recycle and repurpose electronics would increase which not only increases education but it also saves costs of buying new devices and prevents the Electronic waste from ending up in landfills. Aligning this with the results from student surveys makes it possible to see that since the greatest problem is with students feeling as if it is not their responsibility, informing them on their role in recycling and providing a form of bins that they can use to dispose of electronic waste can be effective in countering this problem.

2.7 Future Changes

The intention to isolate and reduce electronic waste that spans from NYC schools is greater than tackling what is currently at hand., with the goal to have a 1:1 student to device ratio, the amount of electronic waste that is predicted to be present in landfills will only skyrocket at an exponential rate as the world moves to a more technology-driven state as NYC schools plan to do. With a 1:1 ratio, electronic devices that are used in schools would multiply more than five times than it currently is. Accounting for this increase, the amount of electronic waste in landfills would increase to 10% and account for almost all toxic waste in landfills. While a 1:1 ratio has benefits, the average lifespan of a laptop is three to five years. Each laptop model has a charger that it comes with so there is no need to reuse one from a previous laptop. Even if a student receives one device per school that they attend, that is one device for elementary school, one device for middle school, and one device for High School which is still three devices per student.

2.8 Current policies

Since 2005 to 2017, current policies have been successful in reducing Electronic waste. According to ​BusinessWire ​since 2005, improper electronic waste disposal has reduced by 60%. This is thanks to programs like ecycleNYC which is most effective in boroughs such as Staten Island and Brooklyn. This increases pickup and dropoff locations as well as non-profit organizations that will pick up the electronic waste which adds convenience to consumers. The added convenience is what makes programs like ecycleNYC effective. This works in boroughs like Staten Island and Brooklyn because residents are able to not only pass these sites on their daily commutes which makes them aware of the sites but also find these sites online. The numerous locations of these drop-off sites allow the consumer to easily and safely dispose of their electronic waste without having to go out of their way to locate them, which is the problem in boroughs like Queens and Manhattan. These sites may also be located in stores like Staples and have signs outside the store informing citizens that the store is a drop-off site, which helps consumers easily locate these sites without having to go out of their way.  By incorporating programs such as this in larger boroughs such as Queens and Manhattan, it is very possible to have more effective disposal policies in New York City schools as a whole. In a Reader’s Digest article, the policies on traditional recycling prove to be more difficult than what one might expect. Things like plastic bags can cause damage to the machinery at a recycling plant and cost thousands of dollars to repair but so can electronics. The article outlines that employees at businesses try to sort through recycling bins to filter out what would obviously cause machine damage such as car engines or cement blocks but smaller electronics such as computer batteries and materials containing lithium-ion are much harder to filter out as they are smaller and prove difficult to find. The article suggests that if one is unsure what to do or how to dispose of something it is best to dispose of it in a regular waste stream in order to prevent possible machine damage. The problem with this is that this information is available to the public. It promotes throwing away anything you want in a regular waste stream if you are the slightest bit unsure of where it belongs. This needs to be amended to informing the public on how to assess where the waste belongs to properly dispose of it instead of suggesting to throw it in regular waste stream containers. This can be resolved with proper informational posters on bins, easily recognized bins, and publicized information to the public as these are all things that have not been proposed.

2.9 Conclusion

Overall, Electronic waste is not just a problem that needs to be tackled because of the current state that New York City is in. Electronic waste has many hazards surrounding it that research has shown that is not known to the public. With the growing amount of technology in New York City and more so now than ever the amount of technology that is being allocated to instructional and educational purposes, the amount of electronics used will only increase. The 2% of landfills that are smothered by electronic waste will quickly multiply as will its toxic effects and research have shown that while improper disposal has reduced by 60% from 2005 to 2017, the increase in electronics in the future needs to be accounted for in such programs. The target location of New York City Schools requires immediate intervention in order to reduce improper disposal and start making a change.

Citations

Anderson, Jake. “Jake Anderson.” ​Emerging Education Technologies,​ 8 May 2017, www.emergingedtech.com/2014/09/proper-ewaste-disposal/.

“Battery Recycling.” ​Energizer​, www.energizer.com/responsibility/battery-recycling.

Bhutta, et al. “Electronic Waste: A Growing Concern in Today's Environment.” Economics Research International,​ Hindawi, 15 June 2011, www.hindawi.com/journals/ecri/2011/474230/.

Cali Carting. “The Growing Problem of e-Waste.” ​Cali Carting,​ Cali Carting, 23 Jan. 2020, www.calicarting.com/blog/the-growing-problem-of-e-waste/.

DSNY - The City of New York Department of Sanitation​, www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/services/electronics/electronics-drop-off-locations.

DSNY - The City of New York Department of Sanitation​, www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/services/electronics/overview-electronics-guideline s.

https://www.nwf.org/~/media/PDFs/Eco-schools/KQED-ewaste.ashx

“The Earth Matters - Recycle All Electronics.” ​11 Facts About E-Waste : Turtle Wings​, turtlewings.com/blog/11_facts_about_e-waste.

“Electronic Waste Recycling.” ​Electronic Waste Recycling - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation,​ www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/65583.html.

“Electronic Waste.” ​World Health Organization,​ World Health Organization, 3 Mar. 2020, www.who.int/ceh/risks/ewaste/en/.

“Electronics Disposal.” ​Electronics Disposal · NYC311,​ portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-02385.

“Home.” ​Electronics Take Back Coalition​, www.electronicstakeback.com/designed-for-the-dump/e-waste-in-landfills/.

Mathewson, Tara García. “The Learning Experience Is Different in Schools That Assign Laptops, a Survey Finds.” ​The Hechinger Report​, 30 Mar. 2020, hechingerreport.org/the-learning-experience-is-different-in-schools-that-assign-lapt ops-a-survey-finds/.

Moran, Andrea. “How to Teach About E-Waste to High Schoolers and Why You Should Do It.” ​Population Education​, 23 Jan. 2020, populationeducation.org/3-reasons-to-teach-high-schoolers-about-e-waste-and-ide as-on-how-to-do-it/.

“Recycling Consumer Electronic Waste.” ​Recycling Consumer Electronic Waste - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation​, www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/66872.html.

“Sales.” ​At School Outfitters,​ www.schooloutfitters.com/catalog/gttk.php/cPath/CAT11_CAT116.

Staff, NPR. “After Dump, What Happens To Electronic Waste?” ​NPR,​ NPR, 21 Dec. 2010, www.npr.org/2010/12/21/132204954/after-dump-what-happens-to-electronic-waste .

“Study Reveals Electronic Waste in New York Waste Stream Is Now Down 60 Percent.” ​Study Reveals Electronic Waste in New York Waste Stream Is Now Down 60 Percent | Business Wire,​ 15 May 2018, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180515006532/en/Study-Reveals-Electroni c-Waste-New-York-Waste.