Reference Reviews
Doug’s Student Reference Room
What is the Impact of E-Waste? edited by Cynthia A. Biley. 113 p. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2008. ISBN 13: 978-0-7377-4118-6. $29.95.
Each television set contains four to eight pounds of lead. In the coming year, as Americans dispose of their old analog-signal television sets in the transition to all-digital transmission, millions of additional pounds of that hazardous material will enter the waste stream. Between 2004 and 2009, 136,000 computers will become obsolete in the U.S. per day. The growing problem of e-waste is examined from several angles in this short volume. A chapter on the ramifications of the mushrooming demand for cell phones looks at exploitative and dangerous precious metal mining in Africa, the failure of recycling efforts that take in fewer than one percent of old phones, and the vulnerability of the U.S. in its dependence on foreign countries for so much of its precious metal supply. Three chapters examine recycling practices that jeopardize the health of workers in countries around the world and in U.S. prisons, while another chapter draws a connection between e-waste and global warming. Alternative models of dealing with e-waste close the volume and include a look at European regulations for managing e-waste and a variety of proposals which place more or less responsibility upon business, the government and consumers for addressing this important issue. The volume closes with a piece from Mother Earth News suggesting that when consumers purchase electronics, they consider the implications of that purchase to the environment. Chapters are followed by a list of relevant organizations to contact and a comprehensive index. The articles in this collection address e-waste in non-technical terms and from many perspectives which will cause young people to think about their electronic devices in a new way, and perhaps think more carefully about how they purchase and dispose of those devices. Highly recommended for middle and high school libraries.
—Doug Achterman