2008 Woodie Awards
Electronic waste piling up, as technology races past
By Pamela Lawn, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 9/2/08 Section: News
Electronic equipment surrounds students of this generation. Many consider it an essential tool for day-to-day life.
The average lifespan of a computer is 2-4 years, far shorter than the average human's, so what to do with that toilet water soaked cell phone or the broken laptop?
The Massachusetts department of environmental protection states that electronic waste [e-waste] is now the fastest growing category of waste in Massachusetts.
E-waste piles up between two and three times faster than any other waste stream in the United States according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
UMass student Josh Stoffel, environmental studies major and the founder and president of the Students for Environmental Awareness and Action is worried about this trend cluttering the minds and dumpsters of America.
"The home computer has become commonplace and individual laptops in a household are also becoming a trend," he said. "What this all means is that the amount of e-waste coming from the U.S. has only skyrocketed in the past 15 years."
When electronic waste is put in landfills, the toxic substances are released onto the air, soil and water.
Lead poisoning has been linked with learning disabilities, behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death.
The natural choice is recycling, which on average creates 1,000 times more jobs per ton than mining or disposal even death, so the importance of recycling it seems clear.
Lorenzo Macaluso, the Special Projects coordinator at the UMass office of waste management explained the current laws in place in Massachusetts. He said "waste bans" prohibit most e-waste from being disposed of in the average colored trash bins around the University.
Anything with a back-lit screen will be prohibited from typical disposal due to the screens' mercury content. Like anything else containing the substance, handling the electronics even after they stop working, becomes a delicate matter.
The average lifespan of a computer is 2-4 years, far shorter than the average human's, so what to do with that toilet water soaked cell phone or the broken laptop?
The Massachusetts department of environmental protection states that electronic waste [e-waste] is now the fastest growing category of waste in Massachusetts.
E-waste piles up between two and three times faster than any other waste stream in the United States according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
UMass student Josh Stoffel, environmental studies major and the founder and president of the Students for Environmental Awareness and Action is worried about this trend cluttering the minds and dumpsters of America.
"The home computer has become commonplace and individual laptops in a household are also becoming a trend," he said. "What this all means is that the amount of e-waste coming from the U.S. has only skyrocketed in the past 15 years."
When electronic waste is put in landfills, the toxic substances are released onto the air, soil and water.
Lead poisoning has been linked with learning disabilities, behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death.
The natural choice is recycling, which on average creates 1,000 times more jobs per ton than mining or disposal even death, so the importance of recycling it seems clear.
Lorenzo Macaluso, the Special Projects coordinator at the UMass office of waste management explained the current laws in place in Massachusetts. He said "waste bans" prohibit most e-waste from being disposed of in the average colored trash bins around the University.
Anything with a back-lit screen will be prohibited from typical disposal due to the screens' mercury content. Like anything else containing the substance, handling the electronics even after they stop working, becomes a delicate matter.
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