Element14, announced that the ‘electronics waste sculpture’ built during the electronica event will be auctioned and the proceeds from the auction will be given to support the charity Computer Aid International, which provides high-quality, refurbished personal computers to developing countries, as well as delivers training and technical support. An exclusive Web cam is also available to watch the sculpture building event at the element14 website.
The sculptures will be building from electronics waste in the “Atrium at the entrance East” at electronica, in Munich, Germany. Element14 is encouraging all attendees to donate old electronic devices, components or small pieces of electronics hardware to build the sculpture and show their commitment to recycling.
Unfortunately, to extract valuable metals like gold, silver, copper and aluminum, children are often heating the electronic waste in open fires and this will release arsenic, chromium, lead, mercury and other toxins directly into the atmosphere. This will impact the local environment as well as the health of those recycling waste.
Harriet Green, CEO of Premier Farnell, mentioned in a press release, “Together as an industry we are all committed to addressing the problems caused by the unregulated recycling of ewaste in developing countries and element14 offers the industry’s leading online source of up-to-date global electronics legislation information to help design engineers access the data they need from one definitive source. We hope the ‘electronics waste sculpture’ will give everyone at electronica the chance to show their commitment to the ever growing need to act responsibly for the future of our planet and its people, and regulate the recycling of electronic waste.”
The challenges faced by the design engineers, while following the vast amount of environmental legislation, were recognized by element14. A fully developed industry legislation portal, which contains industry relevant legislation such as Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), REACH, ErP/Eco-Design and many more, is offered for the design engineers without any charge.
Vanchi Govind is a TMCnet contributor. He has more than 12 years of IT/domain experience including more than eight years in software development, e-business consulting and project management. To read more of his articles please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Jaclyn Allard
