article · International Journal of Environmental Science and Development
Large quantities of discarded computer monitors, reaching up to 2.4 million units imported each year, end up in open dumps in Nigeria because many imported used devices do not function. An assessment simulated the breakage of cathode ray tubes and analysed the total and leachable metals across monitor components, including cathode ray tube glass, printed wiring boards, and plastics. Total lead concentrations reached an average of 4,129 milligrams per kilogram in printed wiring boards and 1,271 milligrams per kilogram in cathode ray tubes, while chromium levels remained below 115 milligrams per kilogram. Leaching tests using weak electrolytes revealed that water can mobilise significant quantities of lead, releasing between 1.3 and 12 percent of the total lead. This extracted lead exceeded standard toxicity characteristic leaching procedure thresholds by 10 to 50 times, demonstrating severe environmental contamination risks from open dumping.
Electronic waste dumping poses severe public health and ecological hazards. When obsolete monitors are discarded in open dumps, rainwater readily mobilises toxic heavy metals like lead directly into the surrounding soil and water systems. Quantifying these leaching risks provides vital empirical backing for environmental regulators and municipalities seeking to halt unmanaged electronic waste imports and end the co-disposal of toxic electronics with standard municipal solid waste.
The abstract does not indicate an immediate commercial application pathway or product development effort. However, the findings provide baseline toxicity data relevant to waste management authorities, formal electronic waste recyclers, and environmental monitoring bodies. Any commercial deployment would lie in the design of safer containment, treatment, or specialised recycling systems to separate and recover lead safely from cathode ray tubes and circuit boards before disposal.
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Large quantities of waste computer monitors are presently being disposed in Nigeria. As much as 2.4 million units of 'used' computer monitors are imported annually into the country. Significant proportions of these imported devices are non-functioning and are never reused, but rather disposed of at open dumps. This study simulated the breaking of cathode ray tubes at open dumps and assessed the total available metals in the cathode ray tube glass; the printed wiring board and plastic components as well as the ability of rainwater to leach and mobilize the metals through batch extraction using weak electrolytes (CaCl 2 , Ca(NO 3 ) 2 , and H 2 O). The total lead concentration (mg/kg) of the monitor components ranged from 645-2892 (mean 1271918); 11.1-117 (45.644.2) and 3860-4581 (4129290) in cathode ray tubes, plastic and printed wiring board samples respectively. The chromium concentrations in the components were generally <115mg/kg. The extractable Pb from the cathode ray tubes and printed wiring board failed to pass the established limit for leaching tests such as the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure limits used in toxicity characterization of solid waste (5mg/l). High Pb concentrations, 1.3-12% of the total lead, were leached by the weak electrolytes (53.77.74 -24833.3mg/l), and this is between 10-50 times the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure limit. The results of this study reveal the dangers of inappropriate management of computer monitors, especially the disposal at open dumps or with municipal solid waste.
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DOI: 10.7763/ijesd.2010.v1.44
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