E-waste Exam Questions

• C E-waste (1)
• The only correct answer is C. The correct answer is e-waste.
• A is not correct because a carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gases produced by an activity
• B is not correct because energy consumption is the amount of energy used
• D is not correct because a replacement cycle is the time between buying a device and buying its replacement

• D Toxic substances can leak into the soil (1)
• The only correct answer is D. The correct answer is toxic substances can leak into the soil.
• A is not correct because repairing and reusing devices is a way of extending their life, not an issue caused by landfill
• B is not correct because needing fewer raw materials is a benefit of recycling or reuse
• C is not correct because recovering materials is a benefit of recycling

• B Gold (1)
• The only correct answer is B. The correct answer is gold.
• A is not correct because fibreglass is used for casings and is not a valuable material recovered from e-waste
• C is not correct because plastic is used for casings and is not a valuable material recovered from e-waste
• D is not correct because water is not found in a device; it is used during manufacture

• C It reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill (1)
• The only correct answer is C. The correct answer is It reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill.
• A is not correct because repairing and reusing old laptops is reuse, not recycling
• B is not correct because recycling an old laptop does not change the energy it uses when it is in use
• D is not correct because recycling an old laptop does not reduce the number of new laptops that are manufactured

Award one mark for any of the following up to a maximum of two marks:

• Electronic/electrical devices/equipment (1)
• Discarded/thrown away (1)
• No longer wanted/no longer working/no longer needed (1)
• Sent for disposal, e.g. to landfill or a recycling centre (1)
• Old/broken devices that are replaced by newer ones (1)

Do not accept 'files'/'emails'/'data' that have been deleted.

Do not accept 'rubbish' or 'waste' on its own.

Do not accept answers about discarded items that are not electronic/electrical devices/equipment.

Award one mark for any of the following up to a maximum of two marks:

• Landfill (1)
• Incineration (1)
• Recycling (1)
• Reuse, e.g. give the device to someone else/sell it/donate it to charity (1)
• Return the device to the manufacturer/retailer (1)

Allow burning at a waste incineration plant for incineration.

Allow selling the device and donating it to charity as reuse, but award only one mark if a candidate gives more than one of these.

Do not accept throw it away/put it in the bin, as no method is named.

Do not accept empty the recycle bin, as this deletes files on a computer and does not dispose of the device.

Award one mark for any of the following up to a maximum of two marks:

• Gold (1)
• Silver (1)
• Copper (1)
• Aluminium (1)
• Steel/iron (1)
• Plastic (1)
• Glass (1)

Allow the US spelling aluminum.

Allow named alloys, e.g. steel, brass.

Do not accept metal or precious metals on their own, as a named material is needed.

Do not accept components/parts such as screens/batteries/circuit boards, as these are not materials.

Award up to two marks for a linked description such as:

• Heavy metals/toxic chemicals (such as lead/mercury) leak from the devices (1) to contaminate the soil/land (1)
• Toxic chemicals leak from the devices (1) to get into rivers/groundwater/the water supply (1)
• The devices are not biodegradable (1) so the materials in them are not broken down and stay in the environment for a long time (1)
• Batteries in the devices can catch fire (1) which releases toxic gases/smoke into the air (1)

Accept 'toxic/hazardous waste' for toxic chemicals.

Accept 'soil pollution'/'water pollution' where the medium being polluted is named.

Accept harm to wildlife/habitats/people/the water supply as the development.

Do not accept 'pollution' on its own without saying what is polluted.

Do not accept answers about the smell or appearance of the landfill site, the cost of disposal, or the number of devices thrown away.

Award up to two marks for a linked description such as:

• Metals (such as gold/copper) are recovered/extracted from the devices (1) so less metal needs to be mined/extracted from the ground (1)
• Recycling uses less energy than making new devices from raw materials (1) so less fossil fuel is burned/less greenhouse gas is released (1)
• Less e-waste is sent to landfill (1) so fewer toxic/harmful substances leak into/pollute the soil/water (1)
• Hazardous substances are removed and treated safely (1) so they do not contaminate/pollute the environment (1)

For both marks, the expansion must follow/associate with the statement.

Do not accept generic statements that recycling helps/is good for the environment, with no linked environmental benefit.

Do not accept answers about financial benefits (making/saving money), or about a person reusing their own device.

Award up to two marks for a linked description such as:

• Burning releases toxic gases/fumes/harmful chemicals (1) which pollute the air/can cause acid rain (1)
• Burning the plastic/insulation on cables releases harmful chemicals (1) which contaminate the ground/soil/water (1)
• Burning leaves ash/residue containing heavy metals (1) which contaminate the ground/soil/groundwater (1)

Allow 'harmful chemicals'/'pollutants'/'toxic fumes' for the point mark.

Responses must relate to burning e-waste.

Do not accept answers about harm to the health/safety of workers.

Do not accept answers that describe a benefit, such as recovering/reusing the metals or generating energy.

Do not accept answers about e-waste in landfill/leaching from landfill, or a generic statement such as 'it pollutes the environment' with no mechanism described.

Award up to two marks for a linked explanation such as:

• Toxic/hazardous chemicals leak out of the devices (1) because substances such as lead/mercury get into the soil/water (1)
• Soil/water is polluted/contaminated (1) because chemicals from the parts/batteries escape as the devices break down (1)
• Landfill sites fill up / land is taken up by landfill (1) because the materials in the devices do not break down/are not biodegradable (1)

For both marks, the expansion must follow/associate with the statement.

Allow named devices/components (e.g. batteries) as the source of the problem.

Award the two marks once only where a candidate repeats the same environmental effect in different words (e.g. soil pollution and water pollution caused by the same leaking chemicals).

Do not accept 'it causes pollution' / 'it harms the environment' / 'it is bad for the planet' without saying what is harmed (soil/water/land) or how.

Do not accept reasons that restate the problem or the cause of the landfill filling up (e.g. 'people throw away lots of devices'), as these do not explain the environmental problem.

Do not accept answers about the energy used to manufacture the devices, as the question asks about disposal.

Award up to two marks for a linked explanation such as:

• Fewer raw materials need to be mined/extracted (1) because the recycled metals can be used to make new devices (1)
• Non-renewable resources/metal ores are conserved (1) because recycling means they are not used up as quickly (1)
• Less energy is used (1) because getting metal from ore uses more energy than recycling it (1)
• Less damage is caused to the land (1) because mining causes erosion/contamination of the ground (1)
• Less e-waste is sent to landfill (1) because recycling recovers the metals so the devices are not thrown away (1)

For both marks, the expansion must follow/associate with the statement.

A valid point followed by an economic (cost) reason rather than an environmental one can still earn the point mark (1) but not the second mark.

For the raw materials point, the raw materials must be linked to the recycled metals being reused to make new devices.

Do not accept 'saves resources' on its own without saying which resources are saved or how they are saved.

Do not accept 'less energy' on its own without saying that getting metal from ore uses more energy than recycling.

Do not accept 'it is better for the environment' / 'recycling helps the environment' without the environmental benefit being stated.

Do not accept answers about saving money/cost as the second mark, as these are economic benefits, not environmental ones.

Award up to two marks for a linked explanation such as:

• Toxic/harmful gases/smoke are released into the air/atmosphere (1) because burning the plastic/circuits in the waste gives off harmful fumes/chemicals (1)
• Burning the waste contributes to climate change/global warming (1) because carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere by the burning (1)
• The ground/soil is contaminated (1) because the ash left behind contains toxic chemicals (1)

For both marks, the expansion must follow/associate with the statement.

Allow 'harmful/toxic gases released into the air' as naming the type of pollution (air) for the first point.

Do not accept 'it causes pollution' or 'pollutes the environment' on its own without naming the type of pollution (air/soil) and how it is caused.

Do not accept 'smoke is produced' or 'ash is left behind' on its own: the point must say why this harms the environment, e.g. toxic substances in the smoke/ash.

Do not accept a repeat of the question (e.g. 'because it is burned') as the linked reason.

Do not accept effects on people's health (e.g. making people ill) on its own, as the question asks for an environmental problem.

Only award the climate change point where the expansion names carbon dioxide/gases released by the burning itself, not general e-waste disposal.

Award up to two marks for a linked explanation such as:

• Fewer computers are sent to landfill (1) so less e-waste is produced/less space is taken up in landfill sites (1)
• Fewer new computers need to be manufactured (1) so fewer raw materials need to be mined/less energy is used to make them (1)
• Fewer hazardous substances are released into the environment (1) because the devices are not broken up/disposed of (1)

For both marks, the expansion must follow/associate with the statement.

Do not accept answers about the company saving money, as this is not an environmental benefit.

Do not accept 'it is good for the environment' without saying how.

Award one mark for any of the following up to a maximum of three marks:

• Harmful/toxic substances/chemicals (e.g. lead, mercury) leak/leach into the soil (1)
• Chemicals contaminate/pollute water/groundwater/rivers (1)
• Harmful gases/substances are released into the air (1)
• Greenhouse gases are released (1)
• Landfill sites take up land/space / destroy habitats (1)
• Valuable materials/metals are not recovered, so more raw materials have to be mined (1)
• Transporting the waste to the landfill burns fuel/produces emissions (1)

Allow 'resources are wasted'/'materials that could be reused are lost' for the valuable materials point.

Do not award both a mark for 'harmful gases released into the air' and a mark for 'greenhouse gases released' for the same gas; methane (or any other greenhouse gas) is credited once only.

A chemical named as leaking into the soil (e.g. lead) can also earn the water pollution mark only where a separate statement says it reaches/pollutes water/groundwater/rivers; describing the same leak in two ways earns one mark only.

Do not accept vague statements such as 'pollution', 'it is dangerous waste' or 'landfill is bad for the environment' without a named pathway (soil, water, air) or a named effect (land use/habitats, resource loss, emissions).

Do not accept answers about cost or about people's health, as these are not environmental problems.

Do not accept 'it looks ugly'/'it smells' on its own.

Indicative content

Landfill

• Drawback: the metals in the laptops, such as copper and gold, are buried and cannot be recovered, so more raw materials have to be mined to make new laptops.
• Drawback: chemicals and heavy metals from the circuit boards and batteries can leak out of the laptops and contaminate the soil and water around the landfill site.
• Drawback: the plastic cases and components do not break down, so the landfill site fills up with e-waste.
• Drawback: the materials and the energy used to manufacture the laptops are lost for ever, so the environmental cost of making them is wasted.

Recycling

• Benefit: a specialist recycler can recover metals such as copper, gold and aluminium from the laptops, so these materials can be used to make new products and fewer raw materials need to be mined.
• Benefit: recycling removes the batteries and other hazardous parts safely instead of leaving them to leak into the ground.
• Benefit: recycling keeps the materials in use for longer and reduces the amount of e-waste going to landfill.
• Benefit: the laptops that are too slow to be reused can still have their materials recovered by a recycler.
• Drawback: the laptops have to be transported to a recycling plant and the recycling process uses energy, so recycling has some environmental cost.

Reusing

• Benefit: the laptops that still work could be donated to another school or sold, so no new devices need to be manufactured for those users and less e-waste is produced.
• Benefit: reusing a laptop avoids most of the energy and materials that would have been needed to manufacture a replacement, although some energy may be used to check or refurbish it.
• Drawback: some of the school's laptops may be too slow to be useful to anyone else, so they should be recycled rather than reused.

Levels

• Level 0 (0 marks): No rewardable content.
• Level 1 (1–2 marks): Basic, independent points are made, showing elements of understanding of key concepts/principles of computer science. (AO1) The discussion will contain basic information with little linkage between points made or application to the context. (AO2)
• Level 2 (3–4 marks): Demonstrates adequate understanding of key concepts/principles of computer science. (AO1) The discussion shows some linkages and lines of reasoning with some structure and application to the context. (AO2)
• Level 3 (5–6 marks): Demonstrates comprehensive understanding of key concepts/principles of computer science to support the discussion being presented. (AO1) The discussion is well developed, with sustained lines of reasoning that are coherent and logically structured, and which clearly apply to the context. (AO2)

Level 3 responses must consider at least two of the three methods, giving at least one environmental benefit and at least one drawback for each method considered.

Do not credit points about data security or the cost of disposing of the laptops, as they are not environmental issues.

Indicative content

Materials

• Digital devices contain small amounts of valuable metals such as gold, copper and aluminium, which are non-renewable and are wasted if the device is buried in the bin.
• Devices contain plastics made from oil, which do not break down when they are buried.
• Devices contain hazardous substances, for example lead and mercury on circuit boards and lithium in batteries.

Landfill

• Burying devices means their materials cannot be recovered, so more raw materials have to be mined, which uses energy and damages habitats.
• Chemicals from the devices can leak into the soil and groundwater, contaminating water supplies and harming wildlife.
• Landfill sites fill up with devices that could have been repaired or recycled, using land that could be used for something else.
• Old batteries in landfill can catch fire and release harmful gases.

Effect on people and the environment

• When e-waste is burned to recover metals, toxic gases and smoke are released, polluting the air and causing breathing problems for people nearby.
• Dumped e-waste damages habitats, and the chemicals can enter the food chain.
• People who dismantle e-waste by hand can be exposed to harmful substances.
• Disposing of devices incorrectly wastes all the energy and materials that were used to make them.

Levels

• Level 0 (0 marks): No rewardable content.
• Level 1 (1–2 marks): Basic, independent points are made, showing elements of understanding of key concepts/principles of computer science. (AO1) The discussion will contain basic information with little linkage between points made or application to the context. (AO2)
• Level 2 (3–4 marks): Demonstrates adequate understanding of key concepts/principles of computer science. (AO1) The discussion shows some linkages and lines of reasoning with some structure and application to the context. (AO2)
• Level 3 (5–6 marks): Demonstrates comprehensive understanding of key concepts/principles of computer science to support the discussion being presented. (AO1) The discussion is well developed, with sustained lines of reasoning that are coherent and logically structured, and which clearly apply to the context. (AO2)

Level 3 responses must cover both the materials the devices contain and the effect of disposing of them incorrectly.