Irani, A. K., Shirazi, F.,

From Digital Culture & Society

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Evaluating Discourse and Practice in E-Waste Management Studies 3 Methods and Materials 4 Results and Discussion

[edit] Introduction

This article discussed the implications of electronic production and how the eventual disposal of these electronic components leads to the production of CO2 in Canada and the public’s perceptions around electronic waste disposal methods. It was claimed that a significant source of the pollution of soil/groundwater is the disposal of heavy metals. Right away it was evident this research was meant to be informative rather than argumentative as the discussion then went on to say that valuable metals are readily available within the electronic waste. This claim was backed up through the fact that about 9% of the worlds gold (Au) is generated through the harvesting of electronic waste, 36% of the worlds tin (Sn), 25% of cobalt (Co), and 15% of the world’s palladium (Pd) (Irani, Shirazi, & Bener, 2016). This proved that there exists an industry in harvesting the precious metals form e-waste. The article made reference to the idea that developed nations have not under-gone a critical approach to how they manage electronic waste. The EPR (extended producer responsibility) was described as a way in which developed countries have been able to make the producers responsible for the electronic waste that they are guilty for creating. This was achieved through effective pricing of electronic products that would cover the amount of work needed to produce effective WEEE (waste electronic and electric equipment) practices. The research question that focused this study was: ‘how and to what extent are Canadian e-waste management practices designed and implemented in the context of global sustainability discourses and goals regarding CO2 reductions?’ (Irani, Shirazi, & Bener, 2016). Using critical discourse analysis, the researchers showed that despite Canadian efforts to properly regulate WEEE, many of the e-waste systems are not operating at an efficient rate. The focus of this article was to evaluate how effective Canadian e-waste practices have been communicated to the public.

[edit] Evaluating Discourse and Practice in E-Waste Management Studies

In order to effectively capture the discourse surrounding proper e-waste management, the researchers used a BAO formula. BAO stands for: beliefs, actions, and outcomes. Beliefs about the e-waste management in Canada were effectively captured. It was found that more than half of homeowners in Jordan, Ontario were aware of what ‘E-waste’ means; however three quarters of the homeowners were not aware of what type of responsible disposal techniques were available to them; 11% of the homeowner (incorrectly) believed that electronic waste could be thrown away alongside municipal garbage. These findings effectively captured the public rhetoric and beliefs about electronic waste. The actions driven toward effectively managing electronic waste were analyzed through a literature review. The review found that at a federal level, there exist no legislations that apply to the country as a whole. Canadians abide by provincial law in the e-waste sector. This was described as an issue as the provincial and municipal governments do not have the required funds in order to effectively manage electronic waste. The third concept: outcome was addressed poorly as the only mentioned idea was that ICT’s will play a pivotal role in communicating the issues of electronic waste.

[edit] Methods and Materials

The researchers in this article made the claim that e-waste management performances are only effective when the practices are coherent to the public. The way in which a company uses responsibility needs to be effectively conversed in their public communications in order to positively formulate public opinions on e-waste management. Using a corporate discourse analysis (CDA), the evaluation of how effective Canadian companies’ communicated was completed. ‘The language gate’ was the term used to describe e-waste management discourse and its effectiveness to communicate the types of social responsibilities that the e-waste facilities have taken on. The researchers used Habermas’ theory of communicative action to assess how effective the e-waste practices were communicated to the public. This theory was used in order to address how effective the speech acts were that were portrayed to the public. In order to address the public perception of e-waste, google searches were done to collect e-waste literature form across the nation, this was step 1. Step 2 was the analysis of 150 documents which consisted of the e-waste practices in each province. Excerpts were pulled from these documents that were statements regarding 4 factors: 1. Statements regarding the positive and negative aspects of e-waste, 2. Terms used to describe e-waste management, 3. Experts and spokespeople for e-waste management, 4. Specialized language/jargon, and 5. Legitimacy of e-waste systems. All of these statements were analyzed and tested against 4 validity claims which are: truth, comprehensibility, legitimacy, and sincerity. If the statements did not fulfill all aspects, then the statement was considered a failure of communication of e-waste practices in Canada.

[edit] Results and Discussion

This methodology is a very unique and interesting way of evaluating a country’s effectiveness, not only to e-waste, but general issues as well. It was found that out of 149 statements found online regarding the previously mentioned matters, 17 of them failed the truth, comprehensibility, legitimacy, and sincerity test. With this in mind, the original claim that Canadian e-waste practices need to be communicated better, is not true according to this specific study. It was clear that the researchers were not attempting to prove their own claim correct but maintained an un-biased approach in order to effectively research this topic. The methodology for this research was at first difficult to understand. The researchers’ did not include simple explanations for their ideas. The research as well included communicational theories that weren’t particularly relevant to what they wished to study. For this reason, the theories were left out of this critique of the research. The methodology was effective in evaluating public perceptions of e-waste management in Canada, although would have been easier to understand without the attempted incorporation of non-relevant aspects.