THE THREAT OF JUNK TECHNOLOGY

At this point, while you read these lines, perhaps a child in some suburb of Accra (Ghana) is manipulating the cell phone that you discarded a few months ago as very old and replaced by a new generation. Although an international agreement prohibits the export of these equipment, many illegal companies, or smuggling mafias, send these equipment into disuse to African or Asian countries from South America or North America. There, minors, exploited as labor, disrupt the equipment and take circuits, plastic, copper and other items to sell them and get some money for their families. According to studies carried out in the European Union, on average, electrical and electronic equipment is composed of 25 percent reusable elements and 72 percent recyclable materials (plastics, ferrous metals, aluminum, copper, gold, tin). This social drama is only one part of a difficult problem that has been implanted in humanity by the increase of the use of new technologies. The other part of the problem is, without being less serious, an environmental obstacle, because electronic waste always contains very dangerous substances. 49 million metric tons of electronic waste occurred last year in the world. The same European Union investigation says, for example, that such wastes include 3 percent of potentially toxic elements, including lead, mercury, beryllium, selenium, cadmium, chromium, halogenated substances, or other more complex ones such as chlorofluorocarbons, biphenyls , Arsenic and asbestos, among others. For example, a computer screen has lead, and when it is badly destroyed or thrown unattended in a field or on a street (this is the case in some neighborhoods of San Andres in the face of difficulties in removing them from the island), there is Possibility of degradation of that substance contaminates the groundwater. Something similar occurs when the same screen is thrown in an open garbage dump, as if it were a can, a plastic container or other traditional waste, which are often incinerated. All are very aggressive substances for the soil and air, and seriously affect health. To mention only one: Arsenic, present in semiconductors, is a cause of brain and cardiovascular injuries. How to take good advantage of what is potentially recyclable and properly dispose of what contaminates? That is the challenge facing the world with an increasingly consumerist society. Last year, nearly 49 million metric tons of electronic waste were produced worldwide, equivalent to 7 kilograms per inhabitant of the planet, a figure that for the year 2017 will increase by 33 percent, according to a study by the University of the Nations United. A problem to which Colombia is no stranger. About 143,000 tonnes of electronic waste from computers, cell phones and televisions are produced annually, to name but a few of the most purchased appliances. Only of computer equipment waste reaches 17,000 tons. The topic has been widely discussed and generated at least three main reactions. On the one hand, a law that would regulate the disposal of these wastes. Also the intention of the Ministry of the Environment to regulate the chaos through post-consumption programs. And finally, business initiatives are added in an attempt by the private sector to lead corrective action. Until this year, 580 tonnes of waste have been collected The first step was taken last year, when Law 1672 of July 19, 2013, was passed, by means of which it establishes the guidelines for the adoption of a public policy of Integrated Waste Management of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE ). This legislation seeks to minimize risks to health and the environment and to facilitate the management of disused electrical and electronic equipment. It also obliges the producer of these to establish a system of collection and safe environmental management. And it sets rules for consumers, who must deliver the waste generated at designated sites so that they are properly destroyed. This Law lacks regulation and establish scope, but only with its creation have been generated reactions. For example, the National Association of Entrepreneurs of Colombia (Andi) brought together 41 companies (representing more than 45 percent of the national technology market) and created EcoCómputo, the first system of selective collection and environmental management of computer waste and / Or peripherals of Colombia. Until this year 580 tons of waste have been collected, corresponding to 80,000 equipment in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín and Barranquilla. Another successful attempt is driven by Computers to Educate. According to Martha Castellanos, director of this public program, about 3,000 tons of waste, equivalent to about 141,000 computers, have been treated in a process in which waste is recycled and then sold to companies that use such waste as raw Materials. Private firms, apart from the new law, have also tuned in offering alternatives. Hewlett Packard, as part of its recycling program in Colombia alone and since 2007, has recycled more than 613,000 kilograms of used products and cartridges delivered by its customers. The idea is to exceed 170,000 kilograms between 2013 and 2014. Apple, meanwhile, has just created a particular strategy. Followers of the brand will be able to deliver their old iPad in the authorized stores, where an assessment will be made. Depending on the price at which it is valued, this value can be used in the purchase of another iPad of the latest generation. Older iPads will be used in responsible recycling programs for sale in developing countries and second markets, or to process their components and recycle them. And perhaps one of the most consolidated collection programs is the one organized since 2007 by mobile operators, who collect an average of 400,000 phones damaged or abandoned a year. All of the above shows that there is progress, but it is still not the ideal scenario. Pollution remains a potential threat. But, in addition, a latent challenge. As the rector of the United Nations University, one of the most studious institutions in the world, Konrad Osterwalder: "The challenge of dealing with electronic waste is very complex, very difficult, but perfecting that process would represent a step Important in the transition to the green economy. "