Truck overloaded with hazardous computer waste on the way to scrapping yards.
Landfill: According to
the US EPA, more than 4.6 million tonnes of e-waste ended up in US
landfills in 2000. Toxic chemicals in electronics products can
leach into the land over time or are released into the atmosphere,
impacting nearby communities and the environment. In many European
countries, regulations have been introduced to prevent electronic
waste being dumped in landfills due to its hazardous content.
However, the practice still continues in many countries. In Hong
Kong for example, it is estimated that 10-20 percent of discarded
computers go to landfill.
Incineration: This
releases heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury into the
air and ashes. Mercury released into the atmosphere can
bioaccumulate in the food chain, particularly in fish - the major
route of exposure for the general public. If the products contain
PVC plastic, highly toxic dioxins and furans are also released.
Brominated flame retardants generate brominated dioxins and furans
when e-waste is burned.
Reuse: A good way to
increase a product's lifespan. Many old products are exported to
developing countries. Although the benefits of reusing electronics
in this way are clear, the practice is causing serious problems
because the old products are dumped after a short period of use in
areas that are unlikely to have hazardous waste facilities.
Recycle: Although
recycling can be a good way to reuse the raw materials in a
product, the hazardous chemicals in e-waste mean that electronics
can harm workers in the recycling yards, as well as their
neighbouring communities and environment.
In developed countries, electronics recycling takes place in
purpose-built recycling plants under controlled conditions. In many
EU states for example, plastics from e-waste are not recycled to
avoid brominated furans and dioxins being released into the
atmosphere. In developing countries however, there are no such
controls. Recycling is done by hand in scrap yards, often by
children.
Export: E-waste is
routinely exported by developed countries to developing ones, often
in violation of the international law. Inspections of 18 European
seaports in 2005 found as much as 47 percent of waste destined for
export, including e-waste, was illegal. In the UK alone, at least
23,000 metric tonnes of undeclared or 'grey' market electronic
waste was illegally shipped in 2003 to the Far East, India, Africa
and China. In the US, it is estimated that 50-80 percent of the
waste collected for recycling is being exported in this way. This
practice is legal because the US has not ratified the Basel
Convention.
Mainland China tried to prevent this trade by banning the import
of e-waste in 2000. However, we have discovered that the laws are
not working; e-waste is still arriving in Guiya of Guangdong
Province, the main centre of e-waste scrapping in China.
We have also found a growing e-waste trade problem in India.
25,000 workers are employed at scrap yards in Delhi alone, where
10-20000 tonnes of e-waste is handled each year, 25 percent of this
being computers. Other e-waste scrap yards have been found in
Meerut, Ferozabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.
© UNEP
How did the trade evolve?
In the 1990s, governments in the EU, Japan and some US states
set up e-waste 'recycling' systems. But many countries did not have
the capacity to deal with the sheer quantity of e-waste they
generated or with its hazardous nature.
Therefore, they began exporting the problem to developing
countries where laws to protect workers and the environment are
inadequate or not enforced. It is also cheaper to 'recycle' waste
in developing countries; the cost of glass-to-glass recycling of
computer monitors in the US is ten times more than in China.
Demand in Asia for electronic waste began to grow when scrap
yards found they could extract valuable substances such as copper,
iron, silicon, nickel and gold, during the recycling process. A
mobile phone, for example, is 19 percent copper and eight percent
iron.