# Presentation: 517674

## Toxic Chemicals Resulting From The Disposal Of Electronic Equipment

- Emerging Pollutants Workshop
- August 11, 2003

## A growing waste stream

- Nearly 250 million computers will become obsolete in the next 5 years.
- By the year 2005, one computer will become obsolete for each new one put on the market.
- Mobile phones will be discarded at a rate of 130 million per year by 2005, resulting in 65,000 tons of waste.
- U.S. EPA

**Notes:**
People are discarding computers every 3 to 5 years

## Potential Environmentally Relevant Chemicals

- Antimony
- Arsenic
- Beryllium
- Bismuth
- Brominated Compounds
- Cadmium
- Copper
- Zinc sulfide

- Chromium
- Lead
- Mercury
- Nickel
- Silver
- Organo-tin compounds
- PCBs
- PVC

**Notes:**
Heavy metals: antimony, cadmium, copper, chromium, lead, silver, tin

PVC: dioxin formation during incineration
	-estimated quantities: 37.1 grams in keyboards to 314 grams in cables

## Mercury

- Up to 50 mg in bulbs for backlighting
- It is estimated that 22% of the yearly world consumption of Hg is used in electrical and electronic equipment – RETRO SYTEMS Calgary

- Lead
- CRT + solder = avg. 4 lbs

**Notes:**
Lighting and electrical equipment contributed an estimated 11% to total anthropogenic Hg emissions to air in Europe in mid 90s
LCDs – gaining market share (143% increase in sales last year)
	- Gateway, LCDs are entry level
	- FCC, requiring the transition from analog signals to High Definition Digital 	signals
Flat Panel Displays use less energy over the life of the product (vs. CRTs)

## Beryllium

- Brush Wellman largest producer
- Sells mainly to businesses in the computer, telecommunications, and automotive electronics industries
- U.S. Government was largest customer prior to the end of the Cold War
- Congress enacted legislation to compensate weapons workers with chronic beryllium disease

**Notes:**
Present as Copper-Beryllium alloy (2-4% Be) and Beryllium oxide 
Beryllium released when shredded
Beryllium oxide released from Copper-Beryllium alloy when metals heated

## Current end-of-life management options

- Stockpile
- Recycle
- Incinerate
- Landfill

## Current stockpile - California

- Percent of households that stockpile
- Televisions: 18.5 percent
- Computer monitors: 19.4 percent
- 	California Integrated Waste Management Board – MGT of America, Inc.
- NSC estimates 3⁄4 of all computers ever sold in U.S. remain stockpiled

**Notes:**
Current stockpile volume
73,600 tons of TVs
47,800 tons of monitors
		              California Integrated Waste Management Board – MGT  of America, Inc.

## Recycling

**Recycling**

**In 2001, 11% of PCs retired in the U.S. were recycled**

## Recycling	

- Envirocycle processes over 1,000 tons of material per week.
- Processes:
- Grinding
- Shredding
- Manual disassembly
- Metal reclamation
- Glass cutting

**Notes:**
Separate ferrous and non-ferrous
Precious metals = gold, silver, platinum, palladium
Heavy metals = copper, lead

Grinding / Shredding:
	-Crushing lamps releases Hg to air
	-leaded dust when printed circuit boards are shredded
	-beryllium released 
	-cadmium released in fine particulate dusts from printed circuit boards
Heating:
	- beryllium oxide released 
	- lead fumes
Glass cutting or breaking;
	- CRTs coated with a phosphor, typically zinc sulfide or cadmium sulfide

Whole and shredded circuit boards – not a solid waste if headed for recycling

## Typical E-scrapping dismantling operation. 100,000 such migrant workers labor in Guiyu breaking down imported computers in hundreds of small operations like this one in a 4 village area surrounding the Lianjiang River. Guiyu, China. 

- Typical E-scrapping dismantling operation. 100,000 such migrant workers labor in Guiyu breaking down imported computers in hundreds of small operations like this one in a 4 village area surrounding the Lianjiang River. Guiyu, China.
- December 2001. Copyright Basel Action Network.

**Notes:**
According to Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and the Basal Action Network up top 80% of equipment headed for recycling in US is sent overseas 

## Recycling

- Woman about to smash a cathode ray tube from a computer monitor in order to remove the copper laden yoke at the end of the funnel. Monitor glass is later dumped in irrigation canals and along the river where it could leach lead into the groundwater (Guiyu, China)

- December 2001. Copyright Basel Action Network.

## Incineration

- Plastic has high BTU value used in cement kilns as fuel
- Energy Recovery

**Notes:**
Incineration ban is included in WEEE
	- Hg emissions is a concern
	- Plastic not clearly marked – avoid handling PVC (formation of dioxins and 	furans)
	- Copper is a catalyst for dioxin formation
	- Heavily brominated plastic may lead to dioxin production if combustion is 	incomplete
	- cadmium oxide dust from plastic

## Landfilling

- More than 3.2 million tons of electronic waste is laid to rest in landfills each year
- 		 – U.S. EPA

## Landfilling	

- ~70% of heavy metals (mercury, cadmium) found in landfills comes from electronic discards
- Global Futures Foundation (grant from Region IX)
- Consumer electronics constitute 40% of lead found in landfills in MN.
- Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance,

**Notes:**
Massachusetts – ban on CRTs in MSW landfills, 2001
California – ban on CRTs in MSW landfills, 2002
Maine – ban on CRTs in MSW landfills, 2002
Minnesota – ban on CRTs in MSW landfills, effective 2005

## Slide 15

## Discussion Questions:

## Are the Risks Quantifiable?

- Prediction - 315 million obsolete computers by 2005 (National Safety Council).
- Each year, 57 million computers and TVs are sold
-  20 to 24 million added to storage.
- 315 million computers =
- 1.2 billion pounds of lead
- 400,000 pounds of mercury
- 1.2 million pounds of chromium
- 1.9 million pounds of cadmium

## Are the Risks Quantifiable?

- Inhalation of beryllium dust or vapor can cause a chronic lung disease at concentrations as low as 0.01 g/m3
- 10 workers at Noranda, Inc., one of the world’s largest electronics recyclers, diagnosed with chronic beryllium disease
- Beryllium exposure and dose response data are needed
- In 2001 emphasized by William Perry, OSHA’s Deputy Director of Health Standards
- Chicago Tribune, July 29, 2001

**Notes:**
Noranda spokesman Denis Couture stated, “the firm had not known beryllium could cause lung disease in workers or that the metal was so common in electronic scrap”
1900 employees tested, 30 sensitive to Be.
Noranda:
	- limit Be bearing materials
	- goal: ambient time weighted average Be concentration at .1g/m3
	- OSHA standard not adequate
	- current measurement range from none detected to .1g/m3
	- require customer disclosure of Be content

NIOSH recommendation 0.5 g/m3 in workroom air during an 8hr shift
OSHA published guidelines on proper handling of beryllium, 1999

## Sediment and water sample results along Lianjiang River (Guiyu, China)

- Site along riverside where circuit boards were treated with acid and burned openly. Massive amounts of dumping of imported computer waste takes place along the riverways. Guiyu, China. December 2001. Copyright Basel Action Network.

## Sample results SVTC, BAN, Exporting Harm: High-Tech Trashing of Asia, p. 45, 2002

| Metal | Sample | EPA Region 4 Sediment Screening Benchmark |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cadmium | 360 mg/kg | 1 mg/kg |
| Chromium | 70 mg/kg | 52.3 mg/kg |
| Copper | 136,000 mg/kg | 18.7 mg/kg |
| Lead | 17,700 mg/kg | 30.2 mg/kg |
| Mercury | <0.1 mg/kg | 0.13 mg/kg |
| Nickel | 580 mg/kg | 159 mg/kg |
| Silver | 150 mg/kg | 2 mg/kg |
| Zinc | 11,400 mg/kg | 124 mg/kg |

- Sample was taken in a pile of blackened material of unknown origin just a few feet from the river. Samples analyzed by the Hong Kong Standards and Testing Centre, Ltd.

## What are the research needs?

- Where does the waste go?
- When are hazardous substances released?
- Recycling: vapors, dust, liquid release
- Incineration: air emissions
- Landfilling: leaching
- Monitoring of releases during processing

## What are the research needs?

- Insufficient toxicity data available on liquid crystal toxicity
- Almost 400 different types of liquid crystal compounds in use for displays
- polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons
- Substance interaction associated with incineration
- Effects of low dose exposure to many substances over time

## Research needs?	

- Environmental impact of alternatives to toxics used
- EU RoHS – from July 1, 2006, new equipment put on market does not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominatd biphenyls or polybrominated diphenyl ethers
- Exemptions for certain uses

## Research needs?

- Semiconductor Industry
- Lawsuits alleging chemical exposures caused cancer, birth defects, miscarriages
- Common Sense Initiative – compare health records maintained by State of Ca. to employment records in an effort to find any increased incidence of chronic illness
- Never went beyond discussion

## What are the risk management options?

- Disclosure of hazards
- Material selection
- Proper handling
- Controlled pre-treatment

**Notes:**
Beryllium
Federal labor laws: companies are not allowed to expose workers to more than 
	2 g/m3 of air
workers contracting disease from exposures below the legal limit	
OSHA published guidelines on proper handling of beryllium, 1999
Beryllium
Federal labor laws: companies are not allowed to expose workers to more than 
	2 g/m3 of air
workers contracting disease from exposures below the legal limit	
OSHA published guidelines on proper handling of beryllium, 1999
Beryllium
Federal labor laws: companies are not allowed to expose workers to more than 
	2 g/m3 of air
workers contracting disease from exposures below the legal limit	
OSHA published guidelines on proper handling of beryllium, 1999