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Swedes, world champions of electronic waste

8 comments
electronic-waste

The electronic waste of the day at the recycling station in my neighbourhood. Photo: Sara Jeswani.

As you probably already know, sorting our waste and recycling is something of a popular sport in Sweden. Yesterday figures for the Swedes’ achievements when it comes to taking care of our electronic waste were published, and – voilà, we’re on top of the world list at bringing our old electric toothbrushes, coffee machines, computers, mobile phones, refrigerators and light bulbs to the recycling stations.

During 2011 we recycled 154 185 tons of electronic waste, which equals more than 16 kilo per person (to be compared to the Euro directive which is set to 4 kilos per person). During last year we recycled 82 million electronic gadgets – 4 million more than the year before.

Now of course you can look at this in two ways:

On the one hand, it is of course good that batteries, printed circuit cards and motors end up where they can be dismantled and recycled. In this way, precious metals and other raw materials can be taken care of and used in new products instead of new raw material being extracted from the ground in ways that can often be very harmful for both people and environment.

electronic-waste2

Basically everything that has an electric cord or is run by a battery has to go here. Photo: Sara Jeswani.

On the other hand, 4 million more pieces of electronic waste in the recycling boxes means that we also have consumed 4 million more gadgets, with all the energy use and material that go with it…

In some of the articles covering this yesterday (in Swedish, but can be translated here) people at the recycling stations were interviewed about the things they threw away, and told reporters that much of it had to go since it is cheaper to buy new instead of fixing. Or even instead of refilling – which is the case with some printers that have expensive toner cartridges.

More and more people are starting to demand electronic devices with a longer life time. Recently the Swedish Radio made a feature about how millions of computers are thrown away although they still work. One of those who reacted (article in Swedish) was an ecotechnology student, Daniel Hedin, who argues that computers may very well be upgraded with new programs and used for a longer time – if we can only learn to live without the latest features and designs.

 

Another call for reuse of computers instead of recycling the components:
Svenska Dagbladet: “Stop the ‘use-and-throw’ mentality around computers” 

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

February 22, 2012

  • Pol – Croatia

    The nearest recycling station or better to say company that collects secondary material here is on the other side of the town (about 7 km away) which can be very unpractical. I have already two or three old cell phones that are waiting to be reused or recycled. Mostly the problem is with battery, some working malfunction, breaking on the ground, squezing in the pocket, drawning in the water, or simply obsoletness. However, they are mostly not build to last more than 2-3 years, i guess.

    Last year the head of my printer melted and after extensive research to repair i found out it would cost as much as new (about 100 €), even if i like my old one. But judging by the sound that comes out from it while working, it’s a matter of time some other component fails, too. … Can you describe this recycling stations of yours, are this mostly a broader collection of containers or it is about waste collecting company ?

  • Pol – Croatia

    Considering the link about mining the minerals for cell-phones in Congo, it is good to make people informed about. The companies who buy or deal with materials and products which have been made almost in slavery condition should be baned to market it’s products.

    But, also in Croatia foreign companies come, missuse workers, violate the laws and behave very differently than in their “motherland”. Unfortunately, these companies and persons, however distinct and autonom they might be, are the real representatives of the country they come from. So one should better watch what they do around for everybody’s sake.

  • Anonymous

    Hi Pol,
    Laws about producer responsibility make those who manufacture, import or sell electronic devices responsible to take care of the things once they are discarded. In order for this to work practically, the Swedish business sector in this field has started its own service company for collection and recycling, called El-kretsen. El-kretsen has about 1000 recycling stations around Sweden, where you can leave this kind of waste and where it is sorted further before being transported to recycling plants. This can of course still mean that it’s quite some way to go to get rid of your old television set or computer.

    Living in an flat though, as in my case, it’s often much easier since many of the rooms where the bulky refuse is collected also have a container for electronic waste, which is collected at the same time as the cardboard, glass etc is picked up.

    And yes, bad working conditions can be found in so many places. I’m still waiting for an ethically produced mobile phone with a lifetime of at least ten years…

  • Pol – Croatia

    It would be nice to have such a container here also, especially for smaller sized electronic waste. Thanks!

    Do you know maybe the offical stand of Ericsson or Nokia, on the matter of worker’s abuse abroad, or sweden goverment, or EU, for instance ?

    Although i spoted few times claims of abusing companies that they give the workers more than they usually earn in their country, as an excuse.

  • Monica-USA

    I agree every time a new electronic gadget comes out days later there is already one better. Why not just get new soft and hardware upgrades? This will help cut down on wasted resources rotting away in the landfills.

  • Pol – Croatia

    Unfortunately, upgrade possibility has it’s limits. For instance i need to expand my computer’s RAM memory soon, because it can not cope with ordinary standard programms already. But in order to do that i have also to buy a new motherboard and probably a new computer box, at least … Instead just to buy new RAM modules.

  • Anonymous

    While the US has passed a law that forces producers to reveal the origin of the minerals they use, this seems to take longer time for the European Union. There are discussions and also demands for laws like that from the European Parliament, though.

    Here’s a comment on one article about “conflict minerals” from the Sony Ericsson blog: http://blogs.sonymobile.com/greenheart/2010/08/18/is-it-possible-to-control-conflict-minerals

  • Pol – Croatia

    Interesting. … Hm, they haven’t said much on the blog. As if materials come to some central place in the world (outside Congo or some other state) and from there they take over, not knowing from where (the metal is the metal). Who knows, maybe there even exist such depos somewhere (?). … Thanks.