W orld Earth Day observance was started to celebrate as an annual event to get support in order to increase the awareness among people about the environment safety as well as to reveal the environmental protection measures . Humanity has always engineered the environment around us . Electronics gadgets are a large part of our modern evolution ; without it , we cannot think our quality of life . Love them or hate them , we all rely on electronics . Unfortunately we do not always know how to safely dispose of them . Electronics equipment do not belong in the garbage because many contain heavy metals such as lead , cadmium or mercury . Now-a- days , most of the electronic servicing work is not done at component level but board level only resulting in more electronic garbage and financial loss for the consumer . For a single component failure , whole PCB is thrown out . Even MNC ‘ s manufacturing LED TV ‘ s are following this practice . MNC ‘ s can train their maintenance crew for component level repair . During CRT TV era , technicians were doing component level repair . People are not using electronic gadgets to their full operating life and changing smart phones even for minor defect . Smartphones with non-removable batteries will have bad impact on environment . Batteries have short life time because of limited charge / discharge cycles . Now more people will dispose off their mobiles for battery failure as they cannot change the batteries themselves . Electronic Gadget designers should not encourage disposable culture . Used electronic material ( referred as ― e-waste ‖) is actually a resource that remains largely untapped because of the prevalence of land disposal . As continued demand for new devices contributes to the depletion of our limited supply of mined resources , we must rethink the whole notion of ― e- waste ‖. A more sustainable solution is to extend the life of electronic products when possible , and when those products reach end-of- life , responsibly recycle them , thereby preserving resources and reducing the environmentally harmful effects of electronics in landfills . Reuse is the most environmentally beneficial way to manage used electronic devices . In many regions of the world , the demand for affordable refurbished devices is strong and has helped to bridge the digital divide . Reuse of electronic parts and components is another sustainable option . Reusing or recycling cell phones conserves materials , prevents air and water pollution , and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and processing . As per available data only 10 percent of cell phones are recycled . If we can recycled the 130 million cell phones that are disposed of annually , we could save enough energy to power 24,000 homes in a year . For electronics without viable reuse potential , responsible recycling can recover virtually all of the precious metals , plastics , glass and other materials so that they can be reintroduced into the manufacturing stream . Tapping into this supply of resources will help meet the growing demand for new electronics products , while at the same time , helping to reduce the negative environmental impact of mining for new materials , and keeping more electronics out of landfills . Finally , the electronics engineers ‘ community can change the disposable culture by updating modification on same old devices . Initiatives need to be taken by MNCs to grow up number of resources that will accept and recycle unwanted electronics . Retailers need to encourage and offer for recycling programs . In addition , Govt . needs to set up several disposal sites across the country to recycle variety of consumer electronics wastes .
Ankush Ghosh ( DEAN Of The Faculty )