Vietnam has yet to pay appropriate attention to learning about the influences and the electronics waste treatment methods. Scientists have warned that it would have to pay a penalty for this.
The demand for electronic equipment has increased rapidly in recent years, following the strong economic development which has led to the increasingly high volume of e-waste, seriously polluting the environment.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE); the life cycle of hi-tech products is very short, just a few years. When electronic equipment gets out of date, they would be destroyed at the dumping ground or put into incinerators.
A recent survey by the Environment Science and Technology Institute, an arm of the Hanoi University of Technology, has estimated the total industrial electronic waste (scrap metal, wires, printed circuit boards, components corrupted, welding wastes) in Vietnam at 1630 tons per annum.
Of this amount, the northern key economic zone discharges 1370 tons, accounting for 84 percent of the total e-waste of the whole country. The central key economic zone discharges 6-7 tons per annum, or 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, 254 tons of e-waste is discharged every year in the south, account for 16 percent of the total e-waste volume.
In the south, most of e-waste (237.33 tons, 93.4 percent) can be found in Dong Nai, in an industrial province. The figures are 12.5 tons and 4.9 percent in HCM City. The remaining gathers in Binh Duong and Long An provinces.
It is estimated that the e-waste volume in the region has been increasing rapidly by 10-15 percent every year following the increase in the number of electronics investors.
Scientists have found from their surveys in 11 provinces and cities nationwide that colored metal and heavy metal, especially copper, are the main elements of e-waste. A sample of separated accessory was found as containing 98 percent of Cu, 1.5 percent of metal impurities (Sn and Pb), while the rest are protective films with organic and macromolecule characteristics.
The strong technology development has led to the shorter life expectancy of electronic products, thus generating increasingly high volumes of e-waste. This kind of waste contains toxic substances which could be the factors destroying the living environment.
Scientists have pointed out that e-waste is not only the problem for big cities, but also in rural areas, where people throw away broken batteries, lamps and electric fans to the natural environment. The rubbish classification still has not been implemented in rural areas, thus making the pollution more alarmingly.
Dr Tran Minh Chi, Head of the Institute of Tropical Technology and Environmental Protection, stressed that it is necessary to find out the solutions to the e-waste as soon as possible.
Chi said the hazardous elements in e-waste, such as lead, cadmium or mercury and CFC which may influence the ozone layer, would seriously devastate the environment, if e-waste cannot be ruined or recycled in a right way.
Recycling e-waste is the solution scientists strongly recommend to follow. Scientists have estimated that one ton of gold ore can bring five grams of gold only, while one ton of e-waste can provide 150 grams at least. Besides, 100 kilos of copper and 3 kilos of silver can also be found in one ton of waste.
As such, e-waste could be considered a “mountain of gold”, and according to scientists, it is completely feasible to recycle the mountain of gold.
