InstaCash – Page 59 of 65

June 19, 2015

Exterminate E-Waste before it Exterminates Us

Simple, innocent and very useful are the working electronics and electronics in our lives. Past their useful lives these are horrendous monsters. Discarded at home and work place these start disintegrating and become ready source of harmful and hazardous substances. Fatal to our health and extremely poisonous to our environment these need to be disposed from our lives and surroundings.

“Update: ZeroWaste is now InstaCash”

E Waste Toxic that affects health and environment when dumped

E-Wastes contain Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and flame retardants that cause multiple toxic Problems. If not properly handled these leach into our natural water reservoirs and rivers. Untreated water finds a way back into our farms, forests and foods. Some of these are very fatal and once released into the environment contaminate all our surroundings with far reaching harmful for generations to come

E — Waste & their Toxic Compounds
For easy reference, listed under are the commonly found E — Waste in our lives and the toxic elements / compounds or the product they effuse at the end of their life cycle:

E — Waste Form

Element / Compound

(in alphabetical order)

Harmful Effects

Medical equipment, Fire detectors, active sensing element in smoke detectors

Americium

Once in the body, americium-241 tends to concentrate in the bone, liver, and muscle. It can stay in the body for decades and continue to expose the surrounding tissues to radiation, and increase your risk of developing cancer. Released in the environment contaminates air, soil and waters.

LED (Light Emitting Diodes)

Arsenic (Gallium Arsenide)

Extreme exposure to Arsenic can lead to Skin diseases, reduced nerve conduction and Lung Cancer.CRT, Spark Plugs, Fluorescent Lamps

Barium

Can lead to Brain Swelling, Muscle atrophy, Damage to heart, liver & spleen,Power Supply Boxes & X Ray Lenses

Beryllium

Inhalation of beryllium dust, fumes or mist can cause, Lung Cancer & Berillycosis.Skin exposed to beryllium can lead to poor wound healing and wart-like bumps.Fire retardants for Plastics, Printed Circuit Boards and CasingsBrominated Fire Retardants — Tetrabromo-Bisphenol-A, Polybrominated Biphenyls, Polybrominated Diphenyl EthersBurning these materials release dioxins & other toxins which lead to Severe Hormonal DisorderRechargeable NiCd-batteries, Fluorescent layer (CRT screens), Printer inks and toners, Photocopying-machines (printer drums)

Cadmium

Cadmium is taken into our bodies through Respiration & Food. It has strong tendency to accumulate in our bodies and environment. It leads to severe damage of Kidneys & Lungs. Causes flu like symptoms, weakness, fever, headaches, muscular pain, Pulmonary Emphysema & Bone Disease.Cooling Units, Insulation Foams

CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons)

When released into the atmosphere, they accumulate in the stratosphere and have a deleterious effect on the ozone layer. This results in increased incidence of Skin Cancer in Humans and in Genetic Damage in many organisms.Data Tapes, Floppy Disks

Chromium

Cellular changes & DNA damage. Harmful to eyes, skin & mucous membraneLead-acid batteries, Electronic Components, Cable Sheathing, CRT Glass & Solders

Lead

Appetite loss, Abdominal pain, Constipation, Fatigue, Sleeplessness, Irritability and headache. Kidney Damage, Vomiting, Diarrhea, Convulsions, Coma or even Death. Amongst young children it can damage nervous connections and cause blood and brain disorders.Batteries, some switches and thermostats, and fluorescent lamps

Mercury

Bio-accumulates causing brain and liver damage if ingested or inhaledDielectric fluids for capacitors and transformers, Heat transfer fluids and as additives in adhesives and plastics.

Poly Chlorinated Bi Phenyls

Serious non-cancer health effects in animals, including effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, endocrine system and other health effects. PCBs are persistent contaminants in the environment.Cable insulation

Poly Vinyl Chloride

When burnt produces large quantities of hydrogen chloride gas, which combines with water to form hydrochloric acid and is dangerous because when inhaled, leads to respiratory problems.Older photocopying-machines (photo drums)

Selenium

Selenosis causing hair loss, nail brittleness, and neurological abnormalities (such as numbness and other odd sensations in the extremities).Interior of CRT screens, mixed with rare earth metals. Dry Cell Batteries

Zinc Sulphide

Exposure to large amounts of zinc can be harmful. It can cause stomach cramps, anemia, and changes in cholesterol levels.

ZeroWaste as an authorized E Waste Management Company collects the discarded electronic & electrical equipments through its Smart Exchange™ & Collection Stores. You may contact us to get your e waste picked and receive instant cash payment.

info@getinstacash.in | www.getinstacash.in

Note: This post was originally published in June 2015 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

June 1, 2015

7 Traditional Ways & Beliefs to Kill Environment

Our traditions have given shape to our thinking and beliefs and have made the character of our nation. We are very proud of it. However, with newer challenges increasingly facing us,which in the times to come, would turn into gargantuan proportions, if we do not mend our ways and get our acts together. This write up is a light hearted take on our ways we address the problem of E Waste traditionally with our love for hoarding and the plausible justifications we may offer!

“Update: ZeroWaste is now InstaCash”

Keeping Clutter traditions Intact: To the west, cluttering is supposed to reflect the state of mind, but to us in India, it is an art, and it is our tradition. Clutter is our way of life. And we wholeheartedly subscribe to Einstein view. “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?
Now that great minds also affirm our way of life how can we empty our houses of clutter? Einstein or no Einstein, we known long before anybody could point us, right from our childhood that we are foresighted, and we plan ahead. We always save for the event when our clutter one day would rescue the need to go out and buy a new part or a spare. So clutters in our homes are for great reasons.
Stick to Stacking: We have it in us, all programmed in our genes. Thus we stack. We stack up groceries before the budget is announced, we stack petrol at the midnight before price hike and we are known globally to stack up gold in shimmering million tones. Traditionally we have been a nation of stackers, stacking every banal item which has long lost its significance in our lives. Thus we have our natural reasons for what makes us what we are.
Practice Utilitarian Creativity: To most of us it is sacrilegious to give away even our most unused dilapidated, several generations over, discarded house hold stuffs. We have honed the skills to turn them into utility, to fit inside our 20 X20 spaces. Our old refrigerators metamorphose into cabinets for scrap or raddi. Cables and wires become the stethoscopes in our children role playing acts, the batteries become paper weights. We turn the scraps into utility and at times into abstract art. Salvador Dali would have loved to be born as an Indian.
Live the Present: For a nation wanting to long-jump into development, our advice is Stack before You Leap. Healthy life and environment clean air and Swachh Bharat are too distant ideal. We need to concentrate on the present, Stack Up for the Future!
Belief in Our Karma: They tell us the earth is getting less green because we stack. Now can somebody tell us how our stacking lead to environment pollution? Our parents stacked, their parents stacked and for innumerable generations we have stacked. Nothing changed because of the hoarding, stashing and stacking. How then we still have good air to breathe ample water coming into our taps. Our Children then must stack. The environment if it is turning grey from green, it is ordained to be such. Our karma has resulted into our present living condition. If the fate of our children has something in store which is different than green then it would be to purify them from past karma.
Philanthropy is good for Economy: We do our philanthropic bit by giving the kabbadi wala some of our stuffs. It becomes his livelihood. He has his small place where he burns the stuffs into something which the big scarp dealers buy from him. These Scrap dealers then do something which they pass on to someone and that someone passes on to some other one. So our philanthropic stuff makes money for all and adds to the economy. But whatever it does to the ecology is not our concern. By the end of the day we feel happy for the little kabaddi wala.
All Merge into One: What the kabbadi wala cannot sell goes into his stacks or goes for burning or into severs or drains or rivers or rivulets. Or close to our cities for landfills. What we had extracted from the Earth goes back to the Mother Nature. For all things will eventually merge into her sooner or later. Our efforts seem small, polluting but it finally ends into the beginning. This is our belief!

Note: This post was originally published in June 2015 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

May 18, 2015

Repulsive face of Electronics: E waste facts

Do we realize that the devices with which we interact on a daily basis i.e. our possessed electronic devices are turning into an hideous image worldwide? E-waste or electronic waste is the new sensation in the market which aims in hindering the environment or for the layman’s sake, it is acting like a deep cancer in the ecological system. Yes, it’s a doubt wobbling in your mind, that how does a life heaping up on the technological track can affect nature? We are always guided by some or the other principles as designed for us. The law of conservation, recycling resources, water conservation, etc. Likewise, one latest factor we shall make up for is BUY ONE RECYCLE ONE.

“Update: ZeroWaste is now InstaCash”

It could raise your concern, that why I need to do it? The hi-tech trash that includes cast-off television sets, monitors, CPUs, keyboards, scanners, printers, pocket computers, or anything electronic that is no more in use settles in the zone of electronic waste. In United States, 50 million tons of e-waste is collected in a year, and only 25% of the same is recycled safely. What happens to the rest of the trash? You must be horrified to know, that rest 75% goes directly to landfills. E-waste requires an organized dumping as it has certain toxic substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium which is evil both for humans and the environment.

This rising cause is somewhere hidden in this avid society and a wake-up call is mandate now. While having some of the latest software and hardware developing facilities, the recycling sector in India is still medieval. The “high penetration in the replacement market” and the “higher obsolescence rate” make e-waste one of the fastest waste streams.

Producers must be responsible for the entire life-cycle of their products. In developed countries, several initiatives have been made on this front. Several dozen cities in the states of California and Massachusetts, including San Francisco, have passed resolutions supporting ‘producer take back’ rules. India is quite back in the league as proper awareness is not reached to the people. We are bereft of this global issue which is gradually eating the entire system.

Aiming towards a cleaner and greener India, ZEROWASTE-“simplest way to dispose your Electronic waste”, is indeed making a mark. This has possibly open doors for a community towards safe e-waste trashing. You are just a call away, and the old electronic trash is picked right from your home, and caters you with the best possible service of organized dumping.

Shout out loud, it’s your environment and your efforts.

Note: This post was originally published in May 2015 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.