It is electronic waste, and disposing of it in an environmentally friendly way is proving complicated and open to abuse.
With the astronomical growth of e-waste in the last decade, the number of recyclers of the ever-growing tidal wave of discarded computers, monitors, printers and cell phones has exploded in North America.
And while some are doing their best to recycle responsibly, many are illegally shipping e-waste to developing countries in Asia and Africa where its toxic materials are taking a high toll on communities, farmland and waterways.
“They all claim to be green and hide behind the name ’recycling',” says Jim Puckett, founder of the Seattle-based Basel Action Network (BAN), a watchdog group that is named for the Basel Convention, a 1994 treaty designed to stop rich countries from dumping their e-waste on developing ones.
“But when you’re diverting this waste from local landfills and recycling it in horrific and primitive conditions in China, Africa or India, you’re not doing the world any favours. Many of these recyclers will export a major fraction of the toxic waste stream.”
The conditions Puckett describes are most evident in Guiyu in southern China, where the streets are lined with pile after pile of electronic junk. It is in Guiyu that, according to a recent exposé by CBS' 60 Minutes, “21st century toxins are being managed in a 17th century environment.”
In crude operations, unprotected workers use fire and mercuric acid baths to extract the precious metals from the e-waste. The fire produces clouds of acrid smoke which, according to the documentary, releases polychlorinated and polybrominated dioxins — some of the most toxic compounds on earth.
