JPDontWorry


 * WORK IN PROGRESS ****

Intro:
E-waste, short for "electronic waste," is a growing problem in modern society. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), e-waste "refers to electronic products that are discarded by consumers;" they give several examples, such as computers, video cameras, etc.

Why there's e-waste: E-waste exists because of a mixture of issues. Modern consumer culture often entices people to want the latest and greatest technology, and consumers tend to often value lower prices over quality, not usually considering if a product will last for several years. Companies have realized this, and will often design products using materials that are only estimated to last a few years before breaking, a strategy referred to as "planned obsolesence." In some cases, devices are cheap enough that it's easier to just buy a new one, rather than to get it repaired; in other cases, they just aren't //designed// to be repaired -- very few replacable parts, for example. In some cases -- the cell phone market, at least in the United States -- consumers are encouraged to buy new devices every two years, regardless of whether or not their old device still works, and the monthly fees are designed to subsidize the cost of new devices, even if the consumer does not choose to buy a new one, making it uneconomical to just keep using older devices.

Issues: The toxins from e-waste -- mercury in compact fluorescent light bulbs, lead in circuit boards, cadmium in NiCD bateries -- will often end up in landfills, where they evetually leak into nearby water supplies, contaminating the water and soil. The nature of technology -- the fact that it goes out of date rather quickly -- makes reusing

Stakeholders: There are several stakeholders with regards to e-waste. People living near landfills may have issues with their local water supply due to e-waste.