Landfills electronic waste

In one current closure site in California, a waste transfer facility with an 18-ft wall is being built within a 30-ft trench on top of a 130-ft high landfill. The waste transfer facility will settle faster than the adjacent area, causing tension at the edge of the trench. Electronic extensometers are proposed at the tension points to check cracking strains in the clay cap and FMC. 

Kurian J (2007) Electronic waste management in India - issues and strategies. In Eleventh International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium, Calgari, Italy, 1-5 Oct 2007... 

Danon-Schaffer MN (2010) Polybrominated diphenylethers in landfills from electronic waste. Faculty of graduate studies (chemical and biological engineering). Vancover, The University of British Columbia. Dr. phil 362... 

Many electronic companies in the State of California create a substantial volume of arsenic waste through the processing or manufacture of gallium arsenide (GaAs) microchips. Since the concentration of arsenic in wastewaters or sludges usually exceeds disposal limits for sewer and municipal landfills, these wastes are quite often treated and disposed to a Class I hazardous landfill. This practice is undesirable environmentally and economically as a long-term mechanism for waste disposal. 

E-Waste Electronic waste discarded electronics, such as computers, monitors, televisions, traditionally thought nonrecyclable and disposed of in landfills. 

Twenty million tons of electronic waste are disposed of in landfills each year. One ton of scrap from discarded computers contains more gold than can be produced from seventeen tons of gold ore. 

Lead solder was used in electronic equipment, but that practice ended with a European Union ban in 2006. Black (2005) reported that when older electronic devices that were disposed of in landfills break down, lead could leach from those landfills and contaminate drinking water. Electronic waste, or e-waste, consists of unwanted electronic devices or Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT). These devices frequently contain hazardous materials, including lead. To prevent groundwater contamination from e-waste, these materials should be properly recycled. E-waste disposal in landfills is illegal in some states (Jamot 2013). 

FIG. 1 An illustration depicting the sequence of events that results in the ingestion of lead leached from electronic wastes in landfills. (From Ref. 69. Courtesy of Panasonic Corporation.)... 

The proliferation of electronic technology, particularly for communications and computer applications, is increasingly prevalent in business and home applications. Consumers want smaller, faster, more capable and convenient electronic products. The amount of electronic waste is expected to increase rapidly with most of it destined for landfill. 

In addition to computer monitors (which account for almost 90% by weight of the lead (Pb) in electronic waste found in landfills) printed wiring assemblies are the other major source of Pb in electronic products. The tin-lead solder alloys used in components and on solderable terminations, and as a preservative coating on cards and boards, are the applications for lead-free solder compositions. 

In addition, Swedish legislation sets minimum requirements for the treatment of WEEE. The Swedish Ordinance on waste collection and disposal in effect since January 1,1999 (section 25 of the waste ordinance) contains a provision forbidding the landfill, incineration, and shredding of electronic waste unless it is treated by a certified pretreatment facility. The Regulations, which went into effect July 2001, lay down minimum requirements for treatment facilities, including separate handling of CRT, LCDs, and plastic containing PBB or PBDE. 

In the United States, electrical and electronic appliances, when old and considered to be wastes, are sent to sanitary landfill sites for dismantling, separation, resource recovery, and disposal. Commercial companies are getting formed for the waste handling, packaging, transportation, resource recovery, and disposition operations, aiming at profit-making.1-3 5-11... 

A variety of other efforts are being made to prevent consumer products from ending up in waste-disposal systems, whether they be landfills, incinerators, or recycling centers. Many manufacturers have developed or are developing plans to have consumers return to them all or some portion of the products they sell. For example, in 2001 the Sony Corporation began to retrieve and recycle its consumer electronics, including televisions and computer monitors, in six states. 

Electronic parts makers, platers and other metal finishers require clean water rinses to remove plating chemicals from parts prior to the next process. The rinse water is sometimes expensive or in short supply. Furthermore, if the water is of poor quality, it must be pre-treated prior to use. The water is discarded after one use with conventional waste treatment, precipitation and clarification and a hazardous mixed metal sludge is generated which must be shipped to a hazardous waste landfill. 

The cost for companies in terms of cash, possibly scarce water resources, ever tightening discharge limitations and perpetual liability for landfilled waste, requires that firms seek other solutions. The ideal solution is to develop economic point of use recycling and reuse systems. A technology that offers the potential for on-site recovery of a broad range of electronics and metal finishing applications is Advanced Reverse Osmosis (ARO). 

However, especially brominated flame retardants are creating problems when electronic and electrical equipment reach end of life. If landfilled, toxic brominated flame retardants may slowly leach ont into the groundwater, where they persist for several years or they can evolve into the air. If waste materials are burned toxic polybrominated dioxins and furans can be formed [53, 50]. 

The scope of what constitutes hazards waste, an ever-present downside of the benefits we derive from the manufacture, processing, and use of chemicals and their products, continues to expand as technology moves forward. In the US two million tons of electronic products, including 50 million computers and 130 million cellphones, are disposed of every year. According to the International Association of Electronic Recylers, this number will more than triple by 2010. With such quantities in landfills and rivers, there are bound to be consequences for our air and water. Potential toxicants include lead, cadmium, and beryllium. 

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