Every year globally we generate 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste and according to the watch dog organizations, less than 20%of that gets recycled. And today we are going to be looking into why we have to do a much better job.

The first world countries from North America and Europe are into the production of a much larger number of E-waste. The U.S generates the larger amount, and The Peoples Republic of China the second most.

Most of the waste gets ended up in the developing world, where the rules and regulations are in lax. China, as seen to be processed around 70% of the world’s Electronic waste in the year of 2012 and the rest of it, goes to the country like India and various other eastern Asian and African countries.

The Non-toxic components which are – copper, steel, and gold – are meant to be valuable, so they were more recycled than the toxic ones. The plants which are constructed for disposal release more of toxic materials, volatile organic chemicals and heavy metals, which cause harm to the environment and to the beings which live in.

The levels of lead content found in the samples of blood in children who are found in Electronic-waste processing town of Gujyu, China, were found to be on an average of 3 times the safe limit mentioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In places like California, the Peregrine Falcons are been threatened – Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers, which are more over found to be used as flame-retardants in electronic items, have been discovered in their eggs.

There is an urgent need for a global approach focused on managing the flow of Electronic-waste. Which would require an International protocol on E-waste, funding raised for technology transfer, firm legislation on import and export, and the awareness about the problem among consumers of the product?

There is a need to build an E-waste flow system focused on a global scale which would cover the entire life cycle of the electronic items, including its usage, production, disposal, recovery and re manufacturing.

We should also think beyond better recycling, the aim and the ultimate aim should be made on the circular type of economy of cleaner production and less wasteful consumption, by sharing of economy and cloud focused technologies with the presence of smaller material footprints. So as being one of the largest producer of electronic goods and recipient of electronic waste, The Peoples Republic of China should take the lead in front.