The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : The problem of e-waste

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Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

The problem of e-waste

Lucy Siegle

e-waste, from toasters to TVs, is growing three times faster than other types of rubbish.

LAST WEEK I took my ex-toaster on a trip to York in the north-east of England. Travelling with an appliance is not completely unheard of — British comedian Tony Hawkes once hitchhiked around Ireland with a fridge. But he did it for a bet, whereas I was offering up my redundant toaster to artists busy creating a 7-metre tall creature with googly eyes and a Triffid-like body entirely made from e-waste.

This is the WEEE Man, designed by Paul Bonomini for the U.K.'s RSA (www.thersa.org.uk) , proponents of zero waste, and now resident on London's South Bank next to City Hall for the next three weeks. WEEE might seem an unfortunate name, but since it is the acronym of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive, which has the potential to change our entire relationship with appliances, we must all learn to live with it — in more ways than one.

And not before time. The WEEE Man contains 3.3 tonnes of domestic appliances — carefully calculated to mirror the amount an average U.K. person discards in a lifetime. It represents the two million TVs, three million fridges and freezers, two million computers and 2.2 million washing machines dumped in landfill sites or fly-tipped in the U.K. each year. But this is the tip of the iceberg. e-waste is growing three times faster than any other type of waste. The Energy Savings Trust (www. est.org.uk) estimates that over the next 10 years the levels of energy consumed and carbon dioxide emitted by appliances will triple.

Therefore, the WEEE man also represents a call to action. We need to change quickly, considering not only how e-waste ends its life, but the ecological fallout of an appliance throughout its lifecycle. Take this into account, and it's clear that the WEEE Man comes with an invisible rucksack — which, were it to be realised, would be 432 times his own height. At www. weeeman.org, you can factor in the hidden rucksack of your own appliances (a conservative estimate suggests we each own 25 appliances) and find out their specific ecological footprint.

Arguably, the call to action needs to be loudest to manufacturers. Implemented properly, it will force them to design and produce with increased levels of repair, possible upgrading, re-use, disassembly and recycling at end-of-life in mind. Some manufacturers, such as Canon, sponsor of the WEEE Man project, see it as an opportunity. Inevitably, others will throw their toys and decline to take responsibility for disposing of appliances. After City Hall, the WEEE Man will move on to a short residency at the Eden Project, in Cornwall in the south west of England, all the time spreading the word about the appliances we abandon and leave lying around. —

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