E-waste and art

In addition to the well-known pollution of the oceans and other areas by plastic garbage, electronic waste has also become a considerable problem.See Envibrary, Arijit Samajdar, Electronic pollution – the upcoming environmental concern In the US, 5 million tons of electronic equipment are recycled annually.See Institute of scrap recycling industries, The scrap recycling industry: electronics China has been called “the electronic wastebasket of the world” as 70% of electronic waste globally generated ended up in China in 2013, according to the Beijing office of Greenpeace.See: CNN, China: The electronic wastebasket of the world This means that electronic waste is a global problem, but, as with many other contemporary waste problems, it is also a particularly Asian and more specifically a Chinese problem, as China served as the world’s major waste dumping location until changes in domestic policy and a ban on garbage imports from 2017 onwards.See: National Geographic, How China’s plastic waste ban forced a global recycling reckoning As a result of China’s bans, other Asian countries have increased their waste import rates.See: Yale Environment 360, Cheryl Katz, Piling Up: How China’s Ban on Importing Waste Has Stalled Global Recycling Large quantities of garbage from the world’s leading industrial countries were exported to Southeast Asia via Hong Kong.See: AHK German Industry and Commerce Limited, [Hong Kong and the Mission to Solve the Plastic Problem] (https://hongkong.ahk.de/news/news-details/hong-kong-and-the-mission-to-solve-the-plastic-problem)

In addition to the well-known pollution of the oceans and other areas by plastic garbage, electronic waste has also become a considerable problem.See Envibrary, Arijit Samajdar, Electronic pollution – the upcoming environmental concern In the US, 5 million tons of electronic equipment are recycled annually.See Institute of scrap recycling industries, The scrap recycling industry: electronics China has been called “the electronic wastebasket of the world” as 70% of electronic waste globally generated ended up in China in 2013, according to the Beijing office of Greenpeace.See: CNN, China: The electronic wastebasket of the world This means that electronic waste is a global problem, but, as with many other contemporary waste problems, it is also a particularly Asian and more specifically a Chinese problem, as China served as the world’s major waste dumping location until changes in domestic policy and a ban on garbage imports from 2017 onwards.See: National Geographic, How China’s plastic waste ban forced a global recycling reckoning As a result of China’s bans, other Asian countries have increased their waste import rates.See: Yale Environment 360, Cheryl Katz, Piling Up: How China’s Ban on Importing Waste Has Stalled Global Recycling Large quantities of garbage from the world’s leading industrial countries were exported to Southeast Asia via Hong Kong.See: AHK German Industry and Commerce Limited, [Hong Kong and the Mission to Solve the Plastic Problem] (https://hongkong.ahk.de/news/news-details/hong-kong-and-the-mission-to-solve-the-plastic-problem)

##E-waste and Jewelry

Artists world-wide have discovered the potential of e-waste for art creation, contributing to a wider awareness on pollution and recycling possibilities.See: Great Lakes Electronics Corporation, Bringing Awareness to the Hazards of E-waste with E-waste Art Julie Alice Chappell, for example, crafts insects from circuit board components.See: Art the science, CREATORS – Julie Alice Chappell

To jewelry artists, the precious metals in discarded mobile phones that range from gold to indium are of special interest.See: BBC/Bianca Nogrady, Your old phone is full of untapped precious metals

In the framework of the interdisciplinary project What’s in my stuff? (See video) that aims at achieving greater awareness on e-waste from phones, designer Maria Hanson transforms material knowledge and fragments from mobile phones into thought-provoking jewelry pieces highlighting the diversity, preciousness and aesthetic appeal of elements used in electronic devices and turning circuit boards into sources of beauty and inspiration.See: What’s in my stuff?