Let’s Talk About E-Waste: - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Let’s Talk About E-Waste: How Can LIS Pedagogy Engage This Difficult Problem?

A Presentation for the 2015 Symposium on LIS Education

Champaign, IL

April 11, 2015

Karin Hodgin Jones

Jimi Jones

Slide2

What is E-waste?

Slide3

Computer Monitors

Slide4

Motherboards and Circuit Boards

Slide5

Drives, Cables and Disks

Slide6

“Smart” devices and all of the devices in “The Internet of Things”

Slide7

What’s in e-waste?

Beryllium

Cadmium

Chromium Hexavalent

Lead

Nickel

Mercury

Copper

Gold

Aluminum

Silver

Palladium

Cobalt

Tin

Plastics

Slide8

Why is E-waste Important?

The U.S. EPA and the United Nations have identified e-waste as the fastest growing waste stream of the 21

st

century.

There are few regulations in wealthy nations governing the stewardship of e-waste and few to none in poorer nations.

EPA and other agencies responsible for monitoring e-waste have no methodology for quantifying or establishing a volumetric assessment of current e-waste awaiting recycling.

In the past 15 years, only 25 U.S. states have passed laws governing e-waste disposal and recycling, yet facilities to manage e-waste domestically are completely inadequate.

It will take time to build adequate capacity to manage the existing waste awaiting disposal and longer to match the trend of new device production.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (November 2012).

Statistics on the Management of Used and End-of-Life Electronics.

Retrieved from

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/manage.htm

Schwarzer, S., De Bono, Giuliani, Kluser, S., Peduzzi, P. (January 2005).

E-waste, the hidden side of IT equipments manufacturing and use.

Retrieved from http://www.grid.unep.ch/products/3_Reports/ew_ewaste.en.pdf

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Where Does E-waste Go?

Maintaining regulatory compliance

with

environmental and toxic waste handling policies

in

wealthier nations

is quite costly.

E

-waste recycling

may be

prohibitively

expensive or infeasible if regulatory restrictions leave companies unable to meet safety and regulatory requirements without financial losses.

Materials are exported to countries that have less strict or no regulatory restrictions or safety protocols for e-waste handling.

The result is unsafe workplace conditions, harmful pollutant release, few protocols for monitoring worker health and frequent use of child labor.

Schwarzer, S., De Bono, Giuliani, Kluser, S., Peduzzi, P. (January 2005).

E-waste, the hidden side of IT equipments manufacturing and use.

Retrieved from http://www.grid.unep.ch/products/3_Reports/ew_ewaste.en.pdf

United States International Trade Commission. (2013).

Used Electronic Products: An Examination of U.S. Exports.

Retrieved from

http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4379.pdf

Goutier, Nele. (August 2014). E-waste in Ghana: where death is the price of living another day.

The Ecologist.

Retrieved from

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis2503820ewaste_in_ghana_where_death_is_the_price_of_living_another_day.html

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Where Does E-waste Go?

According

to the US International Trade Commission, $1.45 Billion worth of Used Electronic Products (UEP) were exported to other nations in 2011

.

43

% of 324,000 tons of UEPs exported were non-functional devices or e-waste

.

In

programs designed to export computer technologies for use in developing nations, less than 1% of materials exported were designated as non-functional at the point of exportation

.

However

, between 12% and 30% of devices were determined to be non-functional when they arrived at international reuse and recycling sites.

United States International Trade Commission. (2013).

Used Electronic Products: An Examination of U.S. Exports.

Retrieved from

http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4379.pdf

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Where U.S. E-waste Goes

United States International Trade Commission. (2013).

Used Electronic Products: An Examination of U.S. Exports.

Retrieved from

http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4379.pdf

Slide12

E-waste Dump in India

E-waste Dump in India Source:

http://www.indiastand.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2010/05/ewaste-dump.jpg

Slide13

E-waste Handler Burning Plastic off of Metals

Source: http://scrapnews.recycleinme.com/newsdetails-50.aspx

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And Let’s Not Forget the Exploitation On the Front End…

Electronics Assemblers at Foxconn’s Factory in Shenzhen, China.

Source:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/undercover-chinese-reporter-exposes-foxconn-working-conditions/

Slide15

Digitization, E-waste and LIS

Digital Objects have a materiality – they must live somewhere

As memory institutions create digital objects, the potential for waste increases

Digital audiovisual materials have large file sizes

“Smart-sized digitization” of analog-sourced moving image and sound materials can minimize waste

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Digitization is Very Tech-Intensive

Photo by Jimi Jones

Slide17

HD Video File Formats

Thanks to Karen Cariani at WGBH for this slide

Slide18

A Digital Object Lesson

VS

From the Digital Rebellion Video Space Calculator: http://www.digitalrebellion.com/webapps/video_calc.html

For non-broadcast, VHS-sourced video

Slide19

Video Formats and “Smart-sized Digitization” at WGBH

Thanks to Karen Cariani at WGBH for this slide

Slide20

Challenges to Smart-sized Digitization

Common wisdom is to go for the gold in digitization

Engineers will balk

Formats/Encodings sustainability

Balancing long-term sustainability against near-term (and long-term) exploitation and environmental damage

Broadcast video has more information than just sound and picture

Slide21

E-Waste Conversations at GSLIS

Waste policy survey

LIS 502 (Libraries, Information and Society) component

LIS 590UMI (Understanding Multimedia Information) component

2015 AMIA Proposal

2015 ASIS&T Proposal

Slide22

Thank You!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Karin Hodgin Jones

khodgin2@illinois.edu

Jimi Jones

jjones7@illinois.edu

Slide23

References

United States International Trade Commission. (2013).

Used Electronic Products: An Examination of U.S. Exports.

Retrieved from

http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4379.pdf

Goutier, Nele. (August 2014). E-waste in Ghana: where death is the price of living another day. 

The Ecologist.

 Retrieved from

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2503820/ewaste_in_ghana_where_death_is_the_price_of_living_another_day.html

Prakash, Siddarth., Manhart, Andreas, et. al. (2010).

Informal e-waste recycling sector in Ghana: An indepth socio-economic study.

Retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/3188038/Informal_e-waste_recycling_sector_in_Ghana_An_indepth_socio-economic_study

Oteng-Ababio, Martin. (2012). When Necessity Begets Ingenuity: E-Waste Scavenging as a Livelihood Strategy in Accra, Ghana.

African Studies Quarterly

, 13 (1-2). Retrieved from

http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v13/v13i1-2a1.pdf

Rode, Sanjay. (2012). E-WASTE MANAGEMENT IN MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGION: CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES.

Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management,

7 (2). Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/1535256/Ewaste_management

Sakipour, Sara. (2011).

Evaluation of Opportunities in E-waste Processing Facilities in Pune, India.

Master’s Thesis.Lahti University of Applied Sciences. Retrieved from https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/37411/Sakipour_Sara.pdf?sequence=2

Basu, Soma. (2013). Wasted e-waste.

Science and Environnment Online Down to Earth.

Retrieved from http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/wasted-e-waste

Trading Economics. (2015).

India Unemployment Rate 1983 – 2013.

Retrieved from

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/india/unemployment-rate

Slide24

Images

E-waste Dump in India Source:

http://www.indiastand.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2010/05/ewaste-dump.jpg

E-waste Handler Burning Plastic off of Metals source: Source:

http://scrapnews.recycleinme.com/newsdetails-50.aspx

Electronics Assemblers in Foxconn Factory in Shenzhen, China:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/undercover-chinese-reporter-exposes-foxconn-working-conditions/