Garbage in, garbage out

WEEE is the fastest growing garbage problem in Europe. To make matters worse, authorities do not know where half of it ends up. At current capacity only one-third of waste electrical and electronic equipment, to give its full name, is safely discarded. Annual generation of unwanted TVs, computers, mobile phones, kettles, refrigerators and the like, far outstrips the ability to collect and recycle it. By 2020 Europeans will be creating more than 12m tonnes annually. 

A lot ends up in a landfill or the incinerator, where groundwater and atmosphere are exposed to the hazardous materials that keep gadgets ticking. Worse, some is smuggled off to developing countries where penniless labourers, often children, strip away toxic chemicals with their bare hands to salvage whatever valuable metals the nearest dealership will take.

In addition to environmental and health risks, Europe faces a supply shortage of many rare materials needed for electronic products, including cobalt, mercury and lead, which can, in theory, be recovered. It is no great surprise, then, that collection for recycling of e-waste is a major priority for EU policymakers. Laws to this end have been in force since 2004, but are regarded even by eurocrats as excessively confusing and ineffective, and are in the process of being rewritten.

Earlier this year the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly (the only opposition coming from the far-right including the British National Front and France’s Front National) in favour of ambitious increases in the amounts of discarded electronics member countries are obliged to collect for safe disposal. The proposals would also introduce stricter inspections on exported e-waste—only reusable goods can legally be exported—and shift collection costs back onto producers and retailers.

However, finding concordance among the many Brussels institutions has not proven easy. New member states complain of the financial burden such a move would impose on their fledgling capitalist economies. Retailers voice concerns about becoming dumping grounds for unwanted electrical appliances. Businesses warn of cost burdens offloaded onto consumers, who are unlikely to appreciate environmental gains they will never feel first-hand. Some of these grievances are spurious, others legitimate, but all underline scepticism that legislation can solve the issue. Ministers from the more reticent EU states obliged last month by watering down the proposals, delaying introduction of new targets and exempting East European countries from action until 2022.

Another route policymakers toyed with, albeit briefly, concerned setting businesses “eco-design requirements”. This is an intriguing idea, as a vast majority of electronic goods are a mesh of many different materials, making them incredibly difficult to separate and recycle. A central premise was to prevent producers from deliberately designing electronics which cannot be dismantled and reused. Manufacturers would be encouraged to consult with recyclers on creating devices so that materials can be recovered after use.

Such concepts have already been explored by some green-minded engineers. Aaron Engel-Hall, a member of the Stanford University team which last year created a prototype for the world’s first fully modular and recyclable laptop, explains that an entire portable computer can, theoretically, be recycled. "The most difficult step is separating the materials.” For example, Apple's MacBook is built around an aluminium shell which could be safely disposed of with general household waste. Problems arise with the embedded its glass display, rubber-padded edges and vacuum-sealed LCD screen inside.

The modular concept, known as Project Bloom, is appealing in other ways, too. Modules, such as a USB drive, circuit board or LCD screen, could be swapped in as they break or become obsolete. The laptop design is such that it can be dissembled without tools in under two minutes. Such devices could prove a boon to cash-strapped consumers, all the while making them easier to dispose of (eg, the computer can be dismantled into parts small enough to post off to recyclers).

The team is currently in talks to create an updated prototype, and claims to have recently been approached by some “major and very promising companies” interested in commercialising the idea. Similar thinking has been employed with some mobile phones and even cars, such as the modular Smart Car. But unless legislation forces electronics manufacturers to take recycling their products at end-of-use seriously, such concepts are unlikely to leave the prototype stage.

The convenient status quo was summed up by Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, who told the European Parliament earlier this year, “Our normal understanding of ownership is that if you sell me something and I buy it from you, it is then my responsibility. There is no residual obligation on you to recycle.” Perhaps, but such devices cannot remain in the garage forever. If Europe is to crack down on illegal export of e-waste to the developing world, as it should, much more ambition will be needed. Without it, Europe's butter mountains and milk lakes could be displaced by something much more high tech
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