E-waste is referred to as wastage of electronic gadgets and other electronic things, for instance, mobile phones, computers, CD and DVDs which increase within the whole world due to its increased use rates, a low amount of reusable alternatives, and very short lifespan. E-waste often increases toxic material and some poisonous items within water and land. In this account, human beings have a high chance of consuming these toxic and poisonous items and bring several kinds of health problems.
Impact of components of electronic waste on the environment
Components of electronic waste include different types of harmful items like lead, aluminium, copper, ferrous and ferrite elements, glass items and different kinds of plastic body. Therefore these components have several types of negative impact on the environment. By contaminating with soil, lead coats the leaf surface of plants as roots of plants absorb moisture of soil. Therefore plants fail to gain sunlight effectively and gradually they die.
On the other hand, lead also can pollute the air of surroundings by producing sulphur oxide gas because it induces the temperature of environment. Apart from that ferrous and ferrite items like iron and steel do not dissolve in soil and so that iron rust contaminated soil also abrupt habitats and feeding habits of plants by developing algae.
Consequently, stability of environment is destroyed and environment does not have the potentiality of maintaining equilibrium within nature. From this circumstance, earthquakes and floods arise within the world. Besides that, groundwater contaminated by iron rust also can kill fishes.
Heavy metals create toxic elements that involve poisonous elements by which bacteria and fungi which help people in surviving can die. Considering these, electronic waste can affect the environment to a large extent and thereby people of the world need to prevent e-waste clusters and its direct connection with soil. In this account, households of Leeds have taken some actions to save the environment from e-waste.
Impact of components of electronic waste on human health
Components of electronic waste have a major impact on human health. Functions of internal organs for instance digestive system, immune system, central nervous system and reproductive system disrupt due to this contamination of electronic wastes’ components.
Harmful ingredients like iron rust contaminate groundwater and form iron oxide (Fe2O3) which affects livers and kidneys of the human body. On the other hand, iron rust also can bring different types of skin problems, siderosis, cough and severe lung problems.
Lead contains poisonous elements like sulphur and carbonate items so that these poisonous elements drag severe cardiovascular diseases like heart blockage, heart attack and heart failure. Furthermore heavy metals like aluminium and copper bring kidney damage, anaemia problems and severe neurological problems within the human body.
Other than this, plastic components of electronic waste can crucially affect the human body as it drags cancer. Different types of Cancer can take place within the human body due to plastic consumption like liver cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer as well as blood cancer. Considering this, contamination of plastic has the most dangerous impact on the human body. Taking these into account, electronic waste also has its dangerous impact on human health and people are struggling to survive from these vital diseases.
As per the report of 2019, 50% of people have suffered from cancer due to the e-waste cluster. Considering this, people all over the world require initiatives for removing e-waste and developing recycling of e-waste just like Leeds households. Away from this, in the global context almost 40% of people are diagnosing major heart disease, neurological problems as well as kidney and liver failure due to these adverse impacts of e-waste. Henceforth people need to eradicate their indifference towards e-waste otherwise they can submerge into a grave danger.
