Where Computers Go to Die... ?
You may be a software professional working on the latest PC, a call-centre employee on your first job, or a teenager tapping away furiously on an assembled computer at home. Whatever slot you fall into, have you stopped to think what happens when you get parts of your PC, or all of it, replaced? Where do these parts go and where does all the unwanted or unusable stuff land up? e-waste or Waste from Electronic and Electrical Equipment is no longer a subject for us. Instead, there is a growing realisation that the issue may assume dangerous proportions over the next few years if it continues to be left unaddressed.The e-waste piling up is not only computer parts. Remember we had pagers once upon a time, before mobiles came along and created a new lifestyle? Where are those pagers? And what happens to that fridge you exchanged for a bigger, shinier one, with two doors? Also, the old TV and the outdated mobiles exchanged for trendier ones? The batteries, tubelights, ovens, ac, vacuum cleaners, printers, phones, faxes, HiFis, electronic toys, medical appliances….. the list will never end..................
....... they all add to the e-waste dump that is getting bigger and bigger. Recycling these gadgets, using some parts and discarding the others reduces the dump, but the problem persists.
The situation is alarming. End-of-life products find their way to recycling yards in countries such as India and China, where poorly-protected workers dismantle them, often by hand, in appalling conditions. Recycling e-waste causes diseases to those working with the parts too. Violating the environment is a crime against posterity. We always tend to forget that posterity includes our descendants.
For soon, e-waste may come in Villain's avatar, carrying a cartload of diseases to haunt us. Deadly scenario, but then, `Tomorrow is another Day'….. Miles to go before sleep……
