Environmental Impact of ICT Year 11 Mr Conti

New for Old There is hardly any technology that changes as often as ICT devices. For example: Mobile Phones Smart Phones Tablet Computers Personal Computers (PC) Televisions Computer Screens Game Stations MP3 Players Storage Devices What was ‘hot’ a year ago now becomes old news. People then throw away the old kit and buy a new item even though the old device is still working fine.

E-waste Electronic waste or e-waste is becoming a huge problem around the world. Much of it used to end up in landfill. The major problem with e-waste is that the toxic chemicals such as lead, arsenic and cadmium can leach into the soil over time and contaminate the drinking water. As a result most countries in the developed world have introduced regulations to prevent e-waste being dumped into landfill. The majority of components in electronic goods now have to be recycled.

E-waste In order to get around this some countries have been sending their e-waste to places such as Asia where there aren’t such strict regulations. We hear of e-waste mountains where children spend their days in hazardous conditions salving some of the precious metals from the discarded electronic goods to sell for cash.

Task Time – 20 Minutes In pairs pupils must prepare a written mind map to consider ways ICT has helped the environment/ ways ICT could be contributing to environmental issues.

Sustainability and recycling What must not be forgotten when you look at the mobile phone in your hand is that every single part of that phone at some point had to come out of the ground. The plastic, the glass, the precious metals, rare minerals, steel, copper and all the other materials at some point had to be dug up as raw material which was then processed, refined, transported and shaped into each component. So it does not make much sense to throw away all that material, energy and effort into landfill, never to be seen again! A better way is to re-use as much of it as possible. The word is ‘sustainability’ – making use of our existing resources as possible. And a key method of doing this is to recycle.

How is it recycled? It is estimated that over a million tonnes of ICT equipment is thrown away each year, and this is growing by about 80,000 tonnes per year. The best way to recycle a perfectly working mobile phone or computer is for someone else to use it instead of you. There are a number of schemes that will re- distribute the items you donate for other people to use. Some are commercial companies and others are charities.

Recycling: Breaking it up Although donating is the best idea, most of the recycling is done by breaking it up to extract as much valuable materials and metal from it as possible, for instance lead, gold and copper. The plastic may be re-used to make other things. Watch the following video

Using energy Another effect of ICT on the environment is the sheer amount of electricity used to power up the millions upon millions of computer servers around the world and also keep them cool. Electricity tends to produce greenhouse gases because of the way it is generated. So the less used, the better. It is also cheaper for the companies and households paying for all that energy! At home you can help by using the ‘sleep mode’ on the computer that more-or-less shuts down the machine when not in use. Or just switch it off.

Task Time - 20 Minutes Pupil Resources ICT Mr Conti Year 11 L6 Environmental Impact Worksheet