On Aug. 19, Samsung unveiled Galaxy Note 7, and Apple is about to launch iPhone 7 on Sept. 16. Consumers in their twenties are interested in these new products and some are planning to purchase them. They are looking forward to using these products, but are ignoring some problems that can occur after buying them. It is an electronic waste (e-waste) problem. Korea ranks second among Asian countries that export a large amount of e-waste; however, people in their twenties do not recognize this as a serious problem. The Argus shed light on how severe the problems are and discussed the causes and their solutions.

What is E-Waste?

E-Waste is waste comprised of expired electronics and their parts. There are two ways to deal with e-waste. One is to discard it by incineration and subsequent burial, and the other is to reuse or recycle it nationally or internationally.

Environmental pollution
If the e-waste is buried, toxic substances in electronic products such as heavy metals flow into the soil and rivers and can cause environmental pollution, which can negatively affect people’s health.
Lee Dong-su, a professor at the Graduate School of Environment at Seoul National University, said, “70 percent of e-waste from all over the world is buried in China. A study of pollution levels and residents’ health in the Guiwi region shows solid, water and air pollution levels exceed international standards.” Toxic substances such as lead, PBDEs and dioxin cause this pollution.
Solid pollution has contaminated their food. The amount of PBDEs residents take in is 21 to 400 times higher than in other regions. The lead content in the river is eight times higher than the criteria for drinking water, and the pollution level in the riverbed is 10 to 1,000 times higher when compared to Europe. Air pollution levels in this region are the highest in the world, and in the case of PBDEs, the level was 300 times higher than that of Hong Kong.
Lee believes China’s pollution will affect Korea. He said, “The polluted water will flow into the western sea, which is located between Korea and China, and we will be affected by this via the seafood we consume. Also, we may be affected by inhaling polluted air that is carried by the wind.”

Illegal exportation of e-waste
According to the Basel Convention, exporting non-reusable electronic components is illegal. However, a large amount of non-reusable components are being exported to developing countries under the name of recycling. However, e-waste is primarily produced by developed countries including the United States of America.
According to the report from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), 90 percent of e-waste is exported illegally to developing countries. This is a practice that breaks the Basel Convention, which was made to prohibit the migration of non-reusable electronics.
On July 29, Japan was caught smuggling out 196 tons of toxic e-waste which is regulated by the Basel Convention. Like this, the illegal exportation of non-reusable e-waste commonly occurs.
E-waste that is imported through this process is disposed of by children to cut down on personnel expenses. In this process, children are exposed to heavy metal contamination and poisonous gases.

Persistent increase of e-waste
As technology develops and various improved products are made, young consumers are trying to follow those trends. Consumer sentiment towards convenience and speed adds to the increase of e-waste. A lot of studies verify the growth of e-waste, and it is a serious problem in the long term.
According to data from “Digital Times,” after examining the amount of e-waste every 10 years, the 14 million tons of e-waste produced in 1992 increased to 24 million tons in 2002 and increased to 45 million tons in 2012. The amount of e-waste has increased threefold over the past 20 years and is still increasing. The Ministry of Environment reported that the amount of e-waste in Korea was nearly 500 thousand tons in 2009 and nearly 600 thousand tons in 2010, and it is increasing at an alarming rate.

Weak domestic laws regulating toxic substances
There is an international law regulating the content of toxic substances in the process of producing electronics in order to reduce the pollution caused by e-waste. Ten countries including England, Germany and France are now enforcing it. Korea also has a similar law called the “Law on Resource Circulation of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles.”
The government requires observance of the law by making companies submit test results showing how many harmful substances are included; however, this law has a loophole in terms of “self-inspection.”
Hong Su-yul, a manager at the Resource Circulation Laboratory, said, “If the company does not submit the test result, they need to pay a 20 million Korean won penalty, so they do it mandatorily. However, the test is conducted by the company itself, so it is impossible to check whether the results are accurate.”

Mutual interests between exporting countries and importing countries
Although the illegal exportation is forbidden by the Basel Convention, it is not well observed because there are strong profit incentives at play. UNEP has stated that the cost for developing countries to export e-waste is a tenth of what the cost would be for them to handle the materials within their own countries.
However, in developing countries, the e-waste offers the possibility of extracting expensive heavy metals from the non-reusable electronics. Importers in such developing countries salvage metals like copper, which can be sold, and incinerate or illegally bury plastics and wire clothing because the cost to do so is relatively low.
Hong also stated that disposing of electronic waste can bring developing countries huge amounts of money they normally could not earn in their countries. Therefore, there is a strong desire to import in these countries. He said, “It is difficult to solve the problem because there is a powerful flow within the world market that is stronger than the regulation.”
Professor Lee Dong-su said, “The export of electronic wastes can be somewhat beneficial in terms of recycling resources. However, people living in developing countries undertake serious health problems and pollution but get small economic profits from this process.”

Trend conscious consumers in their twenties
The reason for the increase in electronic waste is because there are many consumers who frequently change electronics. In particular, people in their twenties are trend-conscious and have competitive consuming habits, so they change their electronic devices too often.
Lee Hyun-ju, a professor from Department of Consumer Science at Inha University, said, “The younger the consumers are, the more sensitive they are to the latest trend. I expect this trend also comes from the younger generations’ tendency to be a part of a strong peer culture.”
The Korea Communications Commission reported that the desired lifetime of a smartphone is two years and nine months. However, Koreans generally change their smartphones after using them for one year and three months, which ranked first place in terms of the shortest usage period among 33 OECD members. When asked about their electronic sales, the sales manager of Samsung Electronics said, “A lot of young consumers, especially people in their twenties, look for the latest model even though their smart phones are not old-fashioned. Some of the consumers visit our store after watching some advertisements.”
Yang Su-jin, a professor from Department of Consumer Science at Sungshin Women’s University, said, “The reason for this phenomenon is because people in their twenties are familiar with digital technologies and products.”

Preparing a method to monitor conformity with the law
Taking action before the electronic waste is produced is important as well as taking action after it is produced. In a sense, the “Law on Resource Circulation of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles” is absolutely essential. However, in order for this law to take effect, monitoring whether the legislation is well observed or not is necessary. Systems and laws strictly managing and overseeing the compliance have to be legislated.
Manager Hong said, “Strict actions have to be taken to make all companies complete an accurate test regarding toxic substances.” He also added that the government should regularly conduct a sample survey to identify whether the report is accurate, so that the companies feel they could be one of the companies who could get caught.

Strengthening international laws
It is true that the problem is hard to solve since the market forces at play are more powerful than the regulatory institutions. However, experts emphasize that negligence in terms of the surveillance and regulation should not happen because cash-strapped workers, especially child workers from developing countries, may suffer long term problems such as health problems.
Manager Hong said, “It is impossible to resolve the problem completely, but stronger regulation is absolutely necessary.”
In order to alleviate this issue, the government is expected to check the process of disposal-collection-transportation transparently so that the electronic waste can be exported to places that have professional equipment to dispose of e-waste. Also a strict crackdown on the importing and exporting field has to be supported.

Prudent consuming habits
People in their twenties should also try to solve the problem on a personal level. Changing consuming habits such as chasing the latest trend competitively can impede the rapid growth of electronic waste. Moreover, before purchasing a device, they should consider deeper about the hidden side of the purchase. Having background information about electronic waste can be helpful for prudent consuming habits.
Professor Lee Hyun-ju said, “Consumers in their twenties should not only consider their own demands; they should also think about environmental issues.”
It is recommended that students should think at least once about how consumers’ careless consuming patterns can harm others.
Kim Mi-hwa, the Secretary General of an NGO, called for “Solidarity for a Resource Circulated Society” and said, “Consumers in their twenties should be independent consumers although many companies convince consumers to change electronics through various marketing tools.”

Worldwide, people have begun to consider the electronic waste problem to be a more serious one than the vehicle exhaust problem. There are many reasons for the e-waste problem, and our consumption habits are just one of the reasons. This means we are one of the perpetrators of this problem. We should not only blame the system but look back on our consumption habits and cut down on unnecessary expenditures.
Let’s think about what our future will be like if the situation persists and try to become wise consumers.