Sung Kim E Waste Recycling 5 09 05 Analysis of Santa Clara Residents Electronic Waste Recycling Behavior Sung Kim Abstract Prior study showed that the most of Santa Clara residents are not aware of nearby ewaste recycling facilities The existence of this annual clean up campaign may give residents an opportunity to dispose of e waste and limits their motivation to take e waste to the recycling facilities This study investigates the history of residents electric waste disposal habits and the city s role in educating residents about recycling e waste Randomly selected residents in front of four popular electronic stores near Santa Clara are surveyed about their knowledge and behavior regarding e waste recycling programs in Santa Clara City The results show that residents who are uninformed about e waste recycling programs in Santa Clara are more likely to dispose of ewaste during the city s annual clean up campaign Although the city mails brochures and advertises on the city web site to motivate residents to participate in recycling program I conclude that the city has not effectively educated residents If the city is capable of putting more effort on educating residents and making it more convenient for residents to recycle ewaste the city s landfill space can be conserved and less toxic may be flowing into ecosystem around the city p 1 Sung Kim E Waste Recycling 5 09 05 Introduction Increasing demand for more advanced electronic equipment and the trend of replacing rather than upgrading old electronic equipment Toxic Link 2004 rapidly generate huge amounts of electric waste Electric waste can be defined as computers VCRs DVDs copiers fax machines printers televisions cellular phones that are not used These obsolete electronics are stored in warehouse or are sent to landfill or incinerator facilities Wood 2001 Studies show that approximately seventy five percent of out dated electronics are stored in warehouses and according to the EPA more than 3 2 million tons of e waste ended up in landfills in the U S in 1997 Computer Recyclers of America 2003 Another estimation of e waste was at the end of 1999 twenty four million computers in the U S became obsolete but only about fourteen percent were recycled or donated Sloan 2000 More than twenty million computers in the U S are dumped incinerated shipped as waste exports or put into temporary storage in attics basements etc Wood 2001 In California alone approximately two to three million tons of ewastes are generated per year according to the City of Los Angeles Environmental Affairs Department LAEA Dep 2003 Currently electric waste represents about two to five percent of the national municipal waste stream and it is expected to increase by three to five percent per year Arensman 2000 The short life span of electronic products is considered to be the main cause of increasing ewaste According to the U S National Safety Council the estimated average life span for PCs is 3 1 years cathode ray tube is 4 7 years printers are 3 5 years and scanners is 3 5 years According to NSC s report the life span of a PC is expected to decrease and level off to two years by 2005 NSC 1999 which means one computer will become obsolete for each one put on the market True Cycle 2003 The rapid rate of increasing electric waste has become a threat to the environment and human health The consequence of the e waste dumped in landfills or burned in incinerators is the release of heavy metals and the dioxins which pollute the air BA Network 2002 About 70 of heavy metals found in landfills including mercury and cadmium come from electronic discards and heavy metals and other hazardous substances found in electronics can contaminate groundwater CRA 2003 Moreover electronic equipment often contain other toxic elements such as batteries mercury switches sensors and relays Engler 2001 and these are considered to be toxic and hazardous elements to the environment and human health Shelly 2001 p 2 Sung Kim E Waste Recycling 5 09 05 Despite the fact that e waste contains harmful elements most households and small businesses send obsolete electronic equipment to landfills or incinerators rather than take them to the recycling systems CRA 2003 The San Francisco Toxics Coalition states that three quarters of all computers ever bought in the U S are sitting in people s attics and basements because they don t know what to do with them Wood 2001 These computers which may be effectively reused in the future are losing their potential value and many people may find it more convenient and economical to simply throw away e waste than to recycle it Philip J Chen a former ES 196 student carried out a simple survey to find out residents awareness of a computer recycling center in Santa Clara City His survey concluded that a large percentage of residents were unaware of a computer recycling facility and had thrown away computer components before Chen 2001 However as a five year resident of Santa Clara I believe that residents ignorance is not merely due to the apathy but rather the city is not adequately informing citizens about recycling programs or facilities in their area I have never received any brochures from city explaining about electric waste recycling facilities Moreover the city of Santa Clara holds the curb side pick up campaign annually and the main purpose of this campaign is to dispose of bulky wastes that are not routinely collected by weekly garbage collection services Because of this campaign Santa Clara residents use it as an easy way to dispose of old electric waste According to the Street Dept Corporation Yard of Santa Clara city the city collects and recycles televisions and computer monitors that contain cathode ray tubes separately but other e wastes are taken directly to the landfills One objective of my study is to investigate why Santa Clara residents have low awareness of recycling facilities I hypothesize that the disposal system of Santa Clara City limits residents motivation to recycle e wastes In particular I believe that by providing an annual clean up campaign the city of Santa Clara gives residents an opportunity to throw away obsolete electric equipment I believe that Santa Clara residents have low awareness of recycling facilities because of low exposure to information about electric waste recycling combined with easy excess to disposing of electric wastes Thus I hypothesis that the Santa Clara residents who are informed by the city about e waste
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