United States-based Basel Action Network documented scenes of e-waste dumping and burning in Africa, in its report, ``The Digital Dump: Exporting Re-Use and Abuse to Africa.'' The group said as many as 500 shipping containers filled with discarded computers enter the port of Lagos, Nigeria primarily from North America and Europe every month. Most of this material is not reusable and gets dumped or burned, posing environmental and human health hazards, the report said.

Lagos' e-waste dumping is ``representative of developments rapidly taking place in other port cities of Africa,'' according to the group's investigation.

``We've talked to the recycling exporters who say the computers are repairable and that technology will help lift Africans out of poverty,'' said Jim Puckett, executive director of Basel Action Network or BAN. ``But the material isn't tested, and there's no infrastructure to do the repair. So as much of 75 percent of it is dumped and burned.''

``If good intentions turn into an e-waste dump, it's a crime, not charity,'' Puckett said.

Puckett's BAN, working with Greenpeace China, investigated hazardous practices of e-waste recycling in southern China and released the 2002 report ``Exporting Harm.'' That report criticized the U.S. government for not adopting the Basel Convention -- a treaty that controls traffic in hazardous waste. Public concern raised by media coverage of that report helped groundbreaking e-waste legislation gain passage in the California Legislature in 2004.

Dumping and burning e-waste can release a host of toxic substances into the environment, including lead, cadmium, mercury and brominated flame retardant, activists and scientists agree.

``This new report about dumping in Africa is important for Silicon Valley because we're the birthplace of the computer and we have a responsibility to prevent the harm that's going on here,'' said Ted Smith, chairman of the Computer Take-Back Campaign. The group advocates producer responsibility for the hazards posed by computers at the end of their useful life.

The report, which is available at www.ban.org, cited ``asset tags'' that identified owners and brand names of products found in the Lagos dump sites. The report said many of the asset tags can be traced back to U.S. government and educational organizations in the United States.

One asset tag identified the San Mateo Union High School District, the report says. A spokesman for the school district did not return a call for comment.

The computers, phones, televisions and other high tech equipment that are touted as tools to bridge the digital divide are actually a "cyber-age nightmare" the report said. Most are broken or hopelessly obsolete and cause enormous environmental damage in countries which have little or no effective systems of dealing with the toxic waste contained in the devices, said the Seattle-based organisation.

The study showed that even with a vibrant technology re-use sector and a thriving entrepreneurial class, only 25 percent of the 500 12-metre shipping containers that arrive there each month loaded with old equipment are put to new use.

"As much as 75 percent of the imports are 'junk' and are not economically repairable or marketable," the report said. "Consequently, this e-waste, which is legally a hazardous waste is being discarded and routinely burned... in a cyber-age nightmare."

"Re-use is a good thing, bridging the digital divide is a good thing, but exporting loads of technotrash in the name of these lofty ideals and seriously damaging the environment and health of poor communities in developing countries is criminal," said Jim Puckett, co-ordinator of BAN, who led the field investigation.

"Things are completely out of control," said Puckett, "Manufacturers have got to get toxic chemicals out of electronic goods, governments have got to start enforcing international law, and we consumers have got to be a lot more careful about what our local 'recycler' is really doing."