Essay Outline

Essay Title: Exploring possible action to combat the e-waste problem in Hong Kong
I. Introduction (100-110 words) Situation (WWW): When ---- In recent __ years Where ---- Hong Kong Who Hong Kong Citizen Problem (e.g. causes, seriousness, impact, urgency, evidence): Seriousness It was estimated that approximately 93,700 Tonnes of e-waste was generated in 2011 (Chung, 2010) Serious Urgency E-waste is one of the rapidly growing components in municipal solid waste stream in Hong Kong, with a growth rate of 2% per year (Environment Bureau, 2010). It is estimated that these figures will continue to increase (de Oliveria et al.,2012) Thesis/Central idea: Given e-waste problem which harm the eco-system and human health, e-waste labelling policy ,education and refining current e-waste collection service can be considered as the possible solutions Purpose of writing (optional): Discover effective solution which suits the recent situation of Hong Kong when dealing with problem of e-waste II. Main Ideas by Section/Key Paragraphs

Main Idea 1:Definition and causes (140-150 words) Topic Sentence: E-waste problem is deteriorating because of the alternation of consumer behaviour and ineffective environmental policy of government Definition of E-waste: Electrical or electronic equipment which is waste including all components, subassemblies and consumables, which are part of the product at the time of discarding (UNEP, 2007) Cause 1: Product lifecycle of electronic products has shortened substantially and significantly in recent years due to rapid advances in technology (Osibanjo and Nnorom, 2007), attractive consumer designs and marketing and compatibility issues (Kiddee, 2012). Evidence supporting Cause 1: Hong Kong consumers change phones every 4 to 6 months on average (Communications Association of Hong Kong ,2009) Cause 2: Hong Kong adopts voluntary measures to tackle the emerging problem of e-waste, there is not any strict and specific measure to deal with e-waste problem (Environment Bureau, 2010) Ineffective and Inadequate

Main Idea 2: Adverse Effect of disposal of E-waste (110-120 words) Topic Sentence: E-waste generates hazardous and toxic materials that can adversely affect human health and the ecosystem

To human health: Food chain will be contaminated by toxic substances generated from disposal and improper recycling processes which result in by-products entering the food chain and thus transferring to humans (Kiddee,2013 ; Zheng et al.,2008) To Ecosystem: E-waste will eventually become landfill leachates which can severely contaminate the groundwater and soil with toxic substances. (Schmidt,2002) Main Idea 3 : Shortcoming of Current government Policy 1 (130-140 words) Topic Sentence: Although the problem of e-waste is snowballing, the only two government policies that prevent the formation of e-waste are ineffective

Although government is going to introduce producer responsibility scheme of WEEE (Environment Bureau, 2010), PRS does not encourage reuse and adoption of environmentally friendly designs of e-waste which is a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly approach (Chung,2010) The only two electronics-related labelling policy in Hong Kong is Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme and Green Label Scheme, environmental effects after disposal of e-waste, however, are not involved in the calculation process of energy efficiency (Environmental Protection Department, 2005), therefore consumer rarely consider the effect of e-waste when purchasing the products

Main Idea 4: First solution to e-waste----Tackle the problem from the root (300 words) Topic sentence: To solve the problem, Government should consider integrating the E-waste element into Mandatory Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme, followed by a series of education Details: - All adverse environmental impacts of an electrical appliances after disposal should be taken into account by the labelling system - Items can be categorized based on their degree of contribution to generating electronic waste in the labelling system(Mallawarachchi & Karunasena, 2012) - Successful examples: The European Eco-label , Eco Mark in Japan (UNOPS, 2009) Advantages: To Consumers: Encourage consumers to consider the environmental adverse impact of E-waste disposal before purchasing different kinds of electrical appliances To Producers: Encourage producers to re-design their products and restrict the use of hazardous material, such as lead or polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) Constraint: If the environmental awareness of the consumers is not high enough, they may not take the label information into account Similar case: European Union has promulgated Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) to impose specific and strict restrictions on six types of hazardous substances in electrical appliances (The European Parliament, 2003)
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Successful example: Iameco computer series is launched by MicroPro computer, a Irish computer manufacturer because of European Eco-label Scheme (The United Nations University, 2008) Effective Follow-up Policy: Education - After refining the Labelling Scheme, general public should be educated about the new policy of labelling scheme in order to help the general public to interpret the information provided by the label. Details: - For students, Government can consider organizing summer school annually. - For adult, every commercial organization shall conduct related awareness programmes which should be made mandatory by regulations for renewal of business licenses (Mallawarachchi & Karunasena, 2012) Similar Policy: StEP E-waste Summer School 2011 in Europe (The United Nations University, 2008) Main Idea 5 :Shortcoming of Current government Policy 2 (110-120 words) Topic Sentence: In addition to e-waste-preventing policy, government also lack of proper policy to treat the existing e-waste problem Elaboration Reuse is better method than recycling, because majority of electronics in Hong Kong are obsoleted before wearing out (Chung, 2010) Although Mobile E-waste collection centre is set up by environment Bureau, there only has one mobile vehicle responsible for E-waste collection and collection services only provided to particular region semi-annually (Environmental Protection Department, 2012) Evidence: Chung (2010) discovered that a considerable amount of respondents wanted the ewaste collector to be very accessible and convenient service hours should be provided

Main Idea 6: Second solution to e-waste: Tackle the problem from the surface (150 words) Topic sentence: In addition to reducing e-waste from the cause, E-waste collection and recycling policy should also be refined to tackle the existing E-waste problem Elaboration Suggestion: - Purchase more mobile vehicle in order to provide more intensive collection service for computers and electrical equipment. - Government organization and government-funded organization should have internal collection and storage facilities to collect damaged electronic equipment for recycle or reuse. (Mallawarachchi & Karunasena, 2012) Details: Any electrical equipment that has potential to be refurbished is donated to the needy or charitable organization Advantages: Useful electronics can be reused which is comparatively more environmentallyfriendly than recycling (Chung, 2010) Disadvantages: Huge cost is involved to provide regular and intense services in every district. Realistic and feasible: Caritas Computer Recycling Programme collected 24,000 units of computer in the first year of execution
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III. IV.

Conclusion (100 words)

Working Bibliography (at least 5 items; APA style; arrange in alphabetical

order & indented paragraphs; NOT to be graded)

Asante, K.A., Agusa, T., Biney, C.A., Agyekum, W.A., Bello, M., Otsuka, M., Tanabe, S. (2012). Multi-trace element levels and arsenic speciation in urine of e-waste recycling workers from Agbogbloshie, Accra in Ghana. Science of the Total Environment, 424, 63-73. Chung, S.S., Lau, K.Y., Zhang, C. (2010). Generation of and control measures for, e-waste in Hong Kong. Waste management, 31(3), 544-554 Communications Association of Hong Kong. (2009). CEO interviews: China mobile peoples telephone company limited, 2009 Official Guide to Communications in Hong Kong, 6, 18-19. Environment Bureau. (2010). Safe and sustainable: A new producer responsibility scheme for waste electrical and electronic equipment. Retrieved from:http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/resources_pub/policy/files/weee_consultati on_eng.pdf Environmental Protection Department. (2005). Consultation paper on a mandatory energy efficiency labeling scheme. Retrieved from http://www.emsd.gov.hk/emsd/e_download/pee/eels_pub_cs_consultation_doc.pdf Environmental Protection Department. (2012). Recovery and recycling of municipal solid waste in Hong Kong, 1-10. Green council. (2010,March 26). Hong Kong green label scheme: Product environmental criteria for personal computer (excluding monitor). Retrieved from http://www.greencouncil.org/hkgls/GL006001_rev3.pdf Kiddee, P., Naidu, R., Wong, M.H. (2013). Electronic waste management approaches: An overview. Waste management, 33(5), 1237-1250 Lau, K.Y.W., Chung, S.S., Zhang, C. (2012). A material flow analysis on current electrical and electronic waste disposal from Hong Kong households. Waste management, 33(3), 714-721 Mallawarachchi, H., & Karunasena, G. (2012). Electronic and electrical waste management in Sri Lanka: Suggestions for national policy enhancements. Resources, conservation and recycling, 68, 44-53 Osibanjo O, Nnorom IC. (2007). The challenge of electronic waste (e-waste) management in developing countries. Waste Management & Research, 25(6), 489-501. Schmidt, C.W. (2002). E-junk explosion. Environmental Health Perspectives, 110(4). A188-A194. The European Parliament. (2003). Restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Lex UriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:037:0019:0023:en:PDF
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The United Nations University. (2008). StEP Annual report 2009. Retrieved from http://www.step-initiative.org/tl_files/step/_documents/StEP%20Annual% 20Report%202011_lowres.pdf Tsydenova. O., Bengtsson, M. (2011). Chemical hazards associated with treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment. Waste Management, 31, 45-58. United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). (2007). E-waste management manual. Osaka:UNEP. United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). (2009). A guide to environmental labels for procurement practitioners of the United Nations system. Retrieved from https://www.ungm.org/SustainableProcurement/toolsUN/Env_Labels_Guide.pdf Zheng, L., Wu, K., Li, Y., Qi, Z., Han, D., Zhang, B., Gu, C., Huo, X. (2008). Blood lead and cadmium levels and relevant factors among children from an e-waste recycling town in China. Environmental Research, 108(1), 15-20.