Review Of Related Literature Envi.docx

Vision The eWaste Guide is designed to serve as a knowledge base on e-waste recycling with a focus on the needs of developing and transition countries. The Website combines:   

existing knowledge on e-waste recycling gained in industrialised countries experience gathered in e-waste projects in developing and transition countries knowledge and information contributed voluntarily by any user of this Website.

Objectives The eWaste Guide aims at becoming the primary information platform for organisations dealing with e-waste issues. It provides:   

knowledge on e-waste combined experience derived from different e-waste recycling systems suggestions concerning sustainable e-waste recycling systems in developing and transition countries.

Introduction E-waste refers to discarded electronic and electrical equipment (EEE). Primarily, E-waste is the term used for electronic products that are near the end of their service. These include televisions, VCRs, computers, fax, machines, and others. It is prudent to understand that E-waste can be recycled or reused as a new product (Grossman, 2006). The E-waste project was established to investigate on cost effective measures that can be applied in the disposal of unused, old, or miscellaneous goods from Otago Polytechnic. The electronic waste will then be listed in the institution’s website where it will be distributed to students, staff, and the community.

Review/ Discussion With each year of operation, Otago Polytechnic has overseen vast amounts of electrical and electronic waste that unnecessarily cost the organization. In fact, it necessary to reduce the costs incurred for disposing the electronic equipment by making them available to students and staff through a developed website. E-waste is based on a web design that requires little costs to start and maintain, thus the costs of deploying the project versus the prospected outcome are tremendous. However, it is expected that technical risk of medium nature will be experienced as the website goes through the development course of action. In order to develop a reputable web design, selecting a suitable Ecommerce platform will be necessary. There are many open source Ecommerce platforms to choose. However, selecting one is not easy since they all provide exemplary services to their customers. It requires testing several of them before coming to a conclusion about the best or the ideal one. This depends on the needs of the web design that Otago Polytechnic intends it to serve. Each of the platforms is developed with certain specifications in order to serve several needs. The good thing about open source Ecommerce platforms is their cheap costs (Boag, 2010). There are minimal costs with open source Ecommerce platforms such as Magento, osCommerce, Open Cart, Spree Commerce, and PrestaShop amongst others. Currently, the project aims at reducing or keeping such costs to

the minimum. Thus, the use of such open source E-Commerce serves as a good base for lowering costs for Otago Polytechnic E-waste. Some of these platforms allow the user to adapt their website and come with other added features. For instance, PrestaShop comes with a “fullfeatured back-office” feature that allows managing of the online business, such as managing inventory, transport and orders (Web Appers, 2009). Developing a website requires ensuring it is usable to the users. Sometimes websites could be cluttered with many pieces of information, which might not be easy to find. The design should ensure that people visiting it could access the information they need with ease. The information should be easy to understand so that visitors do not get frustrated, which could lead them away. The design of the web site should be designed to inform the visitors within a first site what it contains. Thus, the layout of the design should be well made to avoid cluttering of information. Some of the things to do to make the web design for Otago Polytechnic user friendly are checking some features such as having the right font size and spacing, thereby making it easy to read for the visitors. Colors should be used wisely to ensure visitors are attracted to the site. Additionally, the contrast between the colors should ensure everything is visible. The web design should be built around the purpose of the web. The web will be ideal for allowing clients to find what they want from Otago Polytechnic without much difficulty. After designing the website, there is a need to incorporate some development tools, such as error checking tools, Ajax and JavaScript, image manipulation, Firefox extensions and internet explorer extensions amongst others. Such tools are necessary for the development of the website. For instance, JavaScript allows one to retrieve data for updating on the website without having to reload the page (Skirrow, 2010). This makes it easier and reduces the time for uploading information. This allows Otago Polytechnic to update information for their clients with ease and faster. Some of the error checking tools can include HTML validator, which is an open web-based tool for scanning HTML and XHTML sources, and checks for lexical and structural errors, and goes ahead to explain errors found. In this regard, the system encourages two-way perpetual communication with clients and stakeholders to facilitate analysis of the system’s effectiveness, in addition to determining the preferred functional objectives of the project. The two-way perpetual communication between Otago Polytechnic and clients will first involve an understanding measure. This measure is not aimed at delivering the main functionality associated with the system. Instead, it will focus on revealing the information and theory involved in the EEE website development project (Grossman, 2006). This part of the communication process necessitates repeating the scheduled meeting with the client and shareholders with a view of building information and an understanding of the functionality requirements associated with the system. Thereafter, the institution looks to build a prototype to demonstrate to clients and shareholder the vision and mission of the project.

Findings and Recommendations Social networking communities are able to ensure the movement and sharing of information. Social networking community is described as a community grouping found in any social network with the aim of generating funds for a cause such as enhancing healthcare or other societal issues. Such are usually found on individual domains and the traffic generated is used to generate income through advertisements and fees for memberships into the social grouping or community networks. A Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is a language issued in the web page development processes given that it directs the users to the relevant information in the search engines.

Hence, this comes up as an important aspect in the development of web sites. In addition, a hypertext preprocessor (PHP) is also used in the development of the best web pages. In essence, this is used in the development of dynamic web pages for the appeal of new users to use the website frequently. Furthermore, the entity also incorporates use of Cascading Style Sheets commonly referred to as CSS. This is regarded as part of the mark up language and is used in the development of new web pages by styling them when they are written in the HTML and XHTML. This can also be applied in any form of XML document such as the XML, SVG and the XUL (Miller, 2011). MySQL, other wise known as “My Sequel” is regarded as the most widely used type of open source RDBMS in the world of information technology (.Lea, 2002). It is widely used because of its ability to enable the running of a server by enabling access to several databases at one instance. Interaction Designs are used in the web development processes in the development of relevant websites to meet the needs of the users. In essence, it is used for the sole purpose of conforming digital products to meet the needs of the users. Internationally, the Basel Convention on controlling hazardous disposal and waste movement obliges organizations and institutions - such as Otago polytechnic – to address the issue of disposal of unused, old, or miscellaneous goods through websites. In accordance with Otago polytechnic, the Agile Development Framework method was best suited to execute this project. For this project to be realized, it was necessary to identify constant evaluation, communication, and improvement as key components for developing the E-waste system. The methodology of this system grants the institution the advantage of flexibility in change, improvement, and alteration of the project progress, risk and objectives at any stage of expansion of the system (Skirrow, 2010). Otago Polytechnic has endeavored to engage in a comprehensive research regarding website development based on E-waste. Concern about the vast amounts of electrical and electronic waste that unnecessarily cost the institution has imminently led to the discussions on the development of the EEE project. A review of the website development project by Otago polytechnic reveals two key, related directives. The first directive is based on the waste electronic and electrical equipment recycling obligations placed on the institution (Christensen, 2011). The second directive that can be gathered from the project entails the restriction of hazardous materials. These two directives should be considered mandatory approaches representing the institution’s obligations towards maximizing its environmental performance, and the simultaneous reduction of the hazard and toxic impacts associated E-waste. Whilst this strategy is not fully exhaustive, it should have been more explanatory on the institution’s directives behind human health and environmental reasons (Yank, 2009). The review of the Otago Polytechnic e-waste project further finds that the project description should have endeavored to include a detailed highlight of the departments responsible for handling, transporting, recycling, or disposing the electronic waste. This should have also included an assurance of that annual waste of electronic appliances in the institution would be managed in an effective way that conserves resources, and protects both the environment and human health (Hester, 2009). It is crucial to acknowledge the fact that the storage needs, weight, costs, and volume factors pose significant challenges when compared to the management of other forms of waste. The interests of this review maintain that the management behind the Otago Polytechnic e-waste project should have sought to administer an internet-based survey to formulate proper

recycling and collection programs. The survey should have been directed towards prominent government and organizational agencies since they have the expertise to implementing programs on e-waste management, as well as programs on environmental and human health compliance. Research suggests that this survey should have endeavored to enquire from the agencies on the levels of concern about regulation issues such as collection points, illegal dumping, education, transportation, storage, procurement, and environmental safeguards. This survey would have yielded the premise that best management practices are frequently implemented guidelines for identifying the desired waste management methods. Organizations and institutions such as Otago Polytechnic should be concerned regarding the liability involved with generating waste, and electronic waste for this matter. If not properly managed, e-waste turns out to be hazardous (Thompson, 2001). Any hazardous waste calls for the establishment of local jurisdiction. In other words, the Otago Polytechnic e-waste project should feel obligated to follow thoroughly e-waste material from their recycling point up to the intended destination, and ensure that all components and materials are recycled in a proper manner (.Watson, 2004). Research also indicates that any organization or institution looking to engage in the recycling of e-waste should acquire certification on environmental management system (EMS) as an assurance that it is meeting the set standards. The Otago Polytechnic e-waste project does not indicate whether it had sought to acquire certification to orchestrate this project since it is a legal requirement. The EMS mentioned above would serve the purpose of certifying the recycling of e-waste materials, as well as the augmentation of regulatory performance inspections, and the provision of local government assurance on the proper management of ewaste (Christensen, 2011). If the Otago Polytechnic e-waste project had endeavored to implement an environmental management system, it would have gained the assurance of simplifying the diligence process by the local authority. The Otago Polytechnic e-waste project should have undertaken both the internet based survey to formulate proper recycling and collection programs, and acquire certification from the local government. This would have ensured that the project provides cost effective outcomes and convenient service to clients and sets jurisdictions for utilizing the institution’s infrastructure and resources. The responsibility of collecting e-waste should mainly have been delegated to a competent body such as hazardous waste program department, transfer station, or a landfill.

Conclusion E-waste is the term used for electronic products that are near the end of their service. Electronic waste is considered the fastest growing section of the environmental and human health conservation reforms in the society. The E-waste project was mainly established to investigate on cost effective measures that can be applied in the disposal of unused, old, or miscellaneous goods from the institution. With each year of operation, Otago Polytechnic has overseen vast amounts of electrical and electronic waste that unnecessarily cost the organization. It was necessary to establish a viable means of curbing this vice to minimize or eliminate the costs incurred with the waste. The literature review was able to establish that the eWaste project will be based on a web design requiring little costs to start and maintain. The premise ascertains the vision and mission of the institution to lower its cost of operation. However, the literature review of the ewaste project indicated the management behind it should have endeavored to administer an internet-based survey to formulate proper recycling and collection programs. This should have

also included an assurance of that annual waste of electronic appliances in the institution would be managed in an effective way that conserves resources, and protects both the environment and human health. Should these two requirements have been incorporated in the project, then the project would be considered to have conformed to full requirements and fully effective (California Integrated Waste Management Board., 2007).

Reference Boag, P. (2010). Website owner's manual. Greenwich, CT: Manning California Integrated Waste Management Board, Humboldt State University, & R.W. Beck (Firm). (2007). California Electronic Waste Recycling Act, analysis of 2005 net cost reports: Contractor's report to the Board. Sacramento, CA: California Integrated Waste Management Board. Christensen, T. H. (2011). Solid waste technology & management. Chichester, West Sussex, and U.K: Wiley & Sons. Grossman, E. (2006). High tech trash: Digital devices, hidden toxics, and human health. Washington: Island Press. Hester, R. E., & Harrison, R. M. (2009). Electronic waste management. Cambridge, UK: RSC Pub. Skirrow, N. (2010). 100 Essential Web Development Tools. Retrieved from http://www.noupe.com/tools/100-essential-web-development-tools.html