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ASIA IS DUMPING GROUND FOR WESTERN ELECTRONIC WASTE

ComputerWire

28 February 2002  -- Discarded computers and other electronic equipment from the US, Europe and the more affluent parts of Asia, are contributing to environmental pollution in poorer parts of Asia. According to a report compiled by the Basel Action Network (BAN environmental campaigning group, even products delivered to recycling centers in California and elsewhere for safe disposal, are turning up in waterways and paddy fields in China and India. If substantiated, the allegations contained in the BAN report called "Exporting Harm: the High-Tech Trashing of Asia" could have serious implications for the IT product recycling industries in the US, Europe and Japan. All three regions have recently, or are in the processing of, phasing in legislation which is supposed to massively reduce the volume of electronic products that are routinely thrown into landfill sites where toxic residue from solder, deteriorated LCD screens and corroded PCB can poison soil, and leach into aquifers. A key measure to reduce this source of pollution has been the encouragement of recycling schemes paid for by the consumer. However, the credibility of those schemes will be damaged if consumers learn that products are being dumped in the developing world, and not safely recycled as advertised. According to BAN, between 50% and 80% of electronic goods "recycled'" in the western US are ultimately transported to Asia and either dumped in sensitive environmental areas, or hauled to local communities that eke out a precarious living from recycling minute amounts of precious metal residue, at great cost to their own surroundings.

FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Basel Action Network is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. 
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