How is electronic waste managed in Peru?
hace 11 year
The rapid technological evolution has led to electronic devices being discarded in shorter periods of time. According to Dominio Consultores, it is expected that for this year about five million smartphones will be sold in the country, which will be discarded by 2016. This device contains forty of the one hundred chemical elements of the periodic table and the impacts would be highly detrimental to our environment.
The danger of mishandling this type of waste has raised the alarm in several countries around the world. Peru has a regulation for the handling and management of scrap metal that involves all companies that produce and market electrical and electronic devices. Companies are obliged to comply with these regulations by setting up WEEE reception points for their proper management.
“What happens is that all this waste is handled in the informal market, where environmental care is not the priority, but rather economic income,” explains engineer Fausto Roncal, an official of the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM). In Peru, there is a big difference between formal and informal recycling, since many polluting parts are left in the open on public roads or in informal dumps. Their cables are collected and burned to obtain the copper inside, generating carcinogenic and environmentally polluting gases.
In these materials there are materials that provide a great economic benefit, as they contain precious minerals such as gold, even in small quantities. Thanks to this, there is a recycling industry called WEEE, present around the world, which is expected to become stronger due to the trend of a lower availability of extracted metals in the world.
However, there are already companies that have already begun formal management programs, such as telecommunications and electronics companies, as well as companies in the retail sector. In addition, some ten companies of the National Society of Industries (SNI) have presented a collective management plan, another option proposed by the regulation. It is expected that the rest of the companies will follow this path before reaching a critical point.
Sources:
Retrieved from:
http://elcomercio.pe/economia/peru/como-manejo-basura-electronica-peru-noticia-1739477
http://www.larepublica.pe/16-12-2012/mucho-cuidado-con-la-basura-
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