2.3.5+Environment+E-waste



Create a recycling brochure about E-Waste. Identify what E-Waste is and explain why e-Waste is an issue. How can people dispose of or recycle their electronic equipment and have the least impact on the environment?

Visit the following Internet sites for information that will help you create your recycling brochure.
 * http://freegeekvancouver.org/en/esteward
 * http://www.recycle.ubc.ca/ewaste.htm
 * http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/facts.html
 * http://www.deq.state.la.us/portal/tabid/177/Default.aspx

Identify a good place to recycle old computers. Keep in mind that " 'Recycler' sounds green and friendly. Unfortunately, about 80% of this hardware heads directly offshore to poorer countries, usually China. There, “recycling” generally consists of haphazard dumping, burning, and picking through by unprotected workers" (Free Geek Vancouver, 2011). Try to insure that the company you choose does not fall into this category. Why did you choose this place? Do they practice safe recycling methods?

**2.3.6 Non Renewable Resources**
Resource depletion - Use of non-renewable resources for manufacturing components, electrical consumption of IT systems.


 * Assignment - Rare Earth**

Today's assignment will look at non-renewable resources, in particular "rare earth minerals".

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 * 1) What are "rare earth minerals"?
 * Rare earth minerals are a group of 17 chemical elements that can be found on a period table, which consist of scandium, yttrium and the 15 lanthanide elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium).
 * 1) Why are "rare earth minerals" important in the discussion of non renewable resources and Touch-screen smart phones, laptop computers, flat screen televisions, hybrid car batteries, vehicle parts, wind turbines and many other high tech products
 * Rare earth minerals supplies began to cut down in these recent years to reduce pollution and save the environment. Decrease in supplies will make the costs of production for these supplies to increase. High costs of rare earth minerals can affect the producers in their production of applications because the demand for electronic applications are increasing and they require more rare earth minerals. Customers will have to pay more for the products as well.
 * Rare earth minerals are widely used in a variety of electronic applications such as computer, batteries, television, vehicles, military weapons and many other applications. As a result, the growth of mining rare earth minerals to meet the customer's wants and needs in wide range of electronic applications are harming the environment. These processed minerals can produce toxic byproducts that are radioactive and can be contaminated.

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 * 1) Read this article and answer these questions:
 * Who are the stakeholders (individuals or groups affected by IT developments in "rare earth minerals")?
 * People who live in the mining area
 * Miners and mining companies
 * Factories workers who process the rare earth mineral
 * Companies or organizations that purchase the processed minerals to build their products
 * Companies or Retailers who sell the final products
 * Consumers of the products
 * What are the ethical issues and social impacts of mining, using, or stockpiling "rare earth minerals".
 * Countries around the world are unhappy about the decreasing amount of export in rare earth mineral supplies from China because the demand for minerals are growing rapidly but China is limiting the exporting quota of the minerals to other countries, stockpiling for the price to increase even though China is already dominating most of the market.
 * China wanted to cut off the export supplies for rare earth minerals to other countries to prevent their environment pollution from being too severe. Other countries would not able to build good utilities and turbines for wind energy power.
 * Fewer supplies will be available to the rest of the world for companies to purchase and produce their products if China stop exporting rare earth minerals because 95% of the world's rare earth metal production come from China, and in this age of technology advancing in lightning speed, the demand will be growing very quickly and new technologies require these minerals.
 * Companies from different countries might begin to start mining business since China is stopping their exports and they will take advantage of the high prices of the rare earth minerals to earn huge profits.
 * Consumers would need to pay more money in order to purchase the final products. Our life would no longer be convenient without the electronic products.
 * People who live nearby the mining area will be forced to move their home to other places for underground mining.
 * Mining also affected the health of miners, factories workers and people living nearby the wastelands as their water resources were polluted and contaminated by the toxic wastes. Miners and factories workers might not be well protected and exposed themselves to these toxic substances daily.
 * Mining rare earth minerals also cause great pollutions to the environment in any country because of their toxic byproducts.
 * What possible conflicts might arise from "rare earth minerals" between organizations? Between [|countries]?
 * Organizations will start stockpiling their own rare earth minerals or buying from other countries instead of getting supplies from China with high prices since the deposit of rare earth minerals are spreaded across the world.
 * China will no longer be dominating the production of rare earth minerals if other countries started mining project for their own supplies.
 * Thinking back to your e-Waste assignment, what are some possible ideas that may help slow down the depletion of "rare earth minerals"
 * Recycle and reuse the materials. Recycling helps to delay the depletion of minerals due to the demands that increase annually. It prevent all the products being dumped into waste without reusing them.
 * Better extraction efficiency is needed. If the efficiency of mining process increase, the consumption of the minerals will increase as more resources of the minerals can be used without wasting them.