Negative Affects
Computers have a negative impact to the environment as well as the usage of computers. Many electronic products such as computers are discarded with a predicted amount of 20- 50 million tonnes generated every year, most of this waste ends in landfills in China, India, Pakistan, Ghana, and Nigeria. This waste has a negative impact on the environment since the heavy metals and dangerous chemicals make up these electronics and pose health risks to the entire country. These heavy metals contain beryllium, cadmium, lead and mercury and the waste contains chemicals which are toxic and help contribute to global warming.
How to Reduce
The computer came into our lives as a life changer, but it also can affect both the environment and our health. Even though computers may have negative effects, there are many ways in which we can reduce the amount of negative effects a computer has.
- E-waste: E-waste is a name for those electronic products nearing the ending of their "useful life". They are a "toxic mess" once they are put in the street by their owner, because of the toxic chemicals they carry. Luckily, the e-waste is recycled and the parts are used for future electronics and products. Recycling e-waste reduces negative effects on the environment so that the harmful toxins in the computers are disposed safely without harming the environment.
- Paper waste: Computers produce a large amount of paper waste, mostly by printing. To reduce paper waste, we must recycle the paper that can be re used. One of the common negative effects of computers is health effects.
- Power consumption: We have to try to reduce the amount of power the computer uses by using the computer only when it's needed and turning the computer off when we are not using it. Some other small things we can do is adjusting the computer brightness, setting, and using LCD monitors instead of CRT