Let’s Talk About E-Waste: How Can LIS Pedagogy Engage This Difficult Problem?

A Presentation for the 2015 Symposium on LIS Education

Champaign, IL

April 11, 2015

Karin Hodgin Jones

Jimi Jones

What is E-waste?

Computer Monitors

Motherboards and Circuit Boards

Drives, Cables and Disks

“Smart” devices and all of the devices in “The Internet of Things”

What’s in e-waste?

⬜Beryllium

⬜Cadmium

⬜Chromium Hexavalent

⬜Lead

⬜Nickel

⬜Mercury

⬜Copper

⬜Gold

⬜Aluminum

⬜Silver

⬜Palladium

⬜Cobalt

⬜Tin

⬜Plastics

Why is E-waste Important?⬜ The U.S. EPA and the United Nations have identified e-waste as the

fastest growing waste stream of the 21st century.

⬜ There are few regulations in wealthy nations governing the stewardship of e-waste and few to none in poorer nations.

⬜ EPA and other agencies responsible for monitoring e-waste have no methodology for quantifying or establishing a volumetric assessment of current e-waste awaiting recycling.

⬜ In the past 15 years, only 25 U.S. states have passed laws governing e-waste disposal and recycling, yet facilities to manage e-waste domestically are completely inadequate.

⬜ It will take time to build adequate capacity to manage the existing waste awaiting disposal and longer to match the trend of new device production.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (November 2012). Statistics on the Management of Used and End-of-Life Electronics. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/manage.htmSchwarzer, S., De Bono, Giuliani, Kluser, S., Peduzzi, P. (January 2005). E-waste, the hidden side of IT equipments manufacturing and use. Retrieved from http://www.grid.unep.ch/products/3_Reports/ew_ewaste.en.pdf

Where Does E-waste Go?

⬜ Maintaining regulatory compliance with environmental and toxic waste handling policies in wealthier nations is quite costly.

⬜ E-waste recycling may be prohibitively expensive or infeasible if regulatory restrictions leave companies unable to meet safety and regulatory requirements without financial losses.

⬜ Materials are exported to countries that have less strict or no regulatory restrictions or safety protocols for e-waste handling.

⬜ The result is unsafe workplace conditions, harmful pollutant release, few protocols for monitoring worker health and frequent use of child labor.

Schwarzer, S., De Bono, Giuliani, Kluser, S., Peduzzi, P. (January 2005). E-waste, the hidden side of IT equipments manufacturing and use. Retrieved from http://www.grid.unep.ch/products/3_Reports/ew_ewaste.en.pdf

United States International Trade Commission. (2013). Used Electronic Products: An Examination of U.S. Exports. Retrieved from http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4379.pdfGoutier, Nele. (August 2014). E-waste in Ghana: where death is the price of living another day. The Ecologist. Retrieved from http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis2503820ewaste_in_ghana_where_death_is_the_price_of_living_another_day.html

Where Does E-waste Go? ⬜ According to the US International Trade Commission, $1.45 Billion worth of Used Electronic Products (UEP) were exported to other nations in 2011.

⬜ 43% of 324,000 tons of UEPs exported were non-functional devices or e-waste.

⬜ In programs designed to export computer technologies for use in developing nations, less than 1% of materials exported were designated as non-functional at the point of exportation.

⬜ However, between 12% and 30% of devices were determined to be non-functional when they arrived at international reuse and recycling sites.

United States International Trade Commission. (2013). Used Electronic Products: An Examination of U.S. Exports. Retrieved from http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4379.pdf

Where U.S. E-waste Goes

United States International Trade Commission. (2013). Used Electronic Products: An Examination of U.S. Exports. Retrieved from http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4379.pdf

E-waste Dump in India

E-waste Dump in India Source: http://www.indiastand.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2010/05/ewaste-dump.jpg

E-waste Handler Burning Plastic off of Metals

Source: http://scrapnews.recycleinme.com/newsdetails-50.aspx

And Let’s Not Forget the Exploitation On the Front End…

Electronics Assemblers at Foxconn’s Factory in Shenzhen, China. Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/undercover-chinese-reporter-exposes-foxconn-working-conditions/

Digitization, E-waste and LIS

⬜Digital Objects have a materiality – they must live somewhere

⬜As memory institutions create digital objects, the potential for waste increases

⬜Digital audiovisual materials have large file sizes

⬜“Smart-sized digitization” of analog-sourced moving image and sound materials can minimize waste

Digitization is Very Tech-Intensive

Photo by Jimi Jones

HD Video File Formats

Thanks to Karen Cariani at WGBH for this slide

A Digital Object Lesson

VS

From the Digital Rebellion Video Space Calculator: http://www.digitalrebellion.com/webapps/video_calc.html

For non-broadcast, VHS-sourced video

Video Formats and “Smart-sized Digitization” at WGBH

Thanks to Karen Cariani at WGBH for this slide

Challenges to Smart-sized Digitization

⬜Common wisdom is to go for the gold in digitization

⬜Engineers will balk

⬜Formats/Encodings sustainability

⬜Balancing long-term sustainability against near-term (and long-term) exploitation and environmental damage

⬜Broadcast video has more information than just sound and picture

E-Waste Conversations at GSLIS

⬜Waste policy survey

⬜LIS 502 (Libraries, Information and Society) component

⬜LIS 590UMI (Understanding Multimedia Information) component

⬜2015 AMIA Proposal

⬜2015 ASIS&T Proposal

Thank You!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

⬜Karin Hodgin Jones khodgin2@illinois.edu

⬜ Jimi Jonesjjones7@illinois.edu

References

⬜ United States International Trade Commission. (2013). Used Electronic Products: An Examination of U.S. Exports. Retrieved from http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4379.pdf

⬜ Goutier, Nele. (August 2014). E-waste in Ghana: where death is the price of living another day. The Ecologist. Retrieved fromhttp://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2503820/ewaste_in_ghana_where_death_is_the_price_of_living_another_day.html

⬜ Prakash, Siddarth., Manhart, Andreas, et. al. (2010). Informal e-waste recycling sector in Ghana: An indepth socio-economic study. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/3188038/Informal_e-waste_recycling_sector_in_Ghana_An_indepth_socio-economic_study

⬜ Oteng-Ababio, Martin. (2012). When Necessity Begets Ingenuity: E-Waste Scavenging as a Livelihood Strategy in Accra, Ghana. African Studies Quarterly, 13 (1-2). Retrieved from http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v13/v13i1-2a1.pdf

⬜ Rode, Sanjay. (2012). E-WASTE MANAGEMENT IN MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGION: CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES. Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, 7 (2). Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/1535256/Ewaste_management

⬜ Sakipour, Sara. (2011). Evaluation of Opportunities in E-waste Processing Facilities in Pune, India. Master’s Thesis.Lahti University of Applied Sciences. Retrieved from https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/37411/Sakipour_Sara.pdf?sequence=2

⬜ Basu, Soma. (2013). Wasted e-waste. Science and Environnment Online Down to Earth. Retrieved from http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/wasted-e-waste

⬜ Trading Economics. (2015). India Unemployment Rate 1983 – 2013. Retrieved from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/india/unemployment-rate

Images

E-waste Dump in India Source: http://www.indiastand.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2010/05/ewaste-dump.jpg

E-waste Handler Burning Plastic off of Metals source: Source: http://scrapnews.recycleinme.com/newsdetails-50.aspx

Electronics Assemblers in Foxconn Factory in Shenzhen, China: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/19/undercover-chinese-reporter-exposes-foxconn-working-conditions/