space Press Releases, News Stories

By Kris Christen, Environmental Science and Technology Policy News

25 June 2002 -- A U.S. EPA rule aimed at increasing recycling and reuse of the rapidly growing glut of old computers and television sets could open the door to more exports of hazardous electronic waste (e- waste) to developing countries, environmentalists say.

Meanwhile, European Union countries, party to the Basel Convention governing transboundary shipments of toxic waste, have banned the export of hazardous waste—including cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and circuit boards—to developing countries, says Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network, an environmental organization. The United States has yet to ratify this U.N. treaty (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2000, 34, { HYPERLINK "http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/esthag-a/34/i13/html/07christ.html" \o "Trading in Hazardous Waste" }300A–305A). Most CRTs contain several pounds of lead to protect users from the X-rays generated by the tube. EPA estimates that more than 250 million computers will be retired over the next five years in the United States alone.

The rule, proposed in mid-June, reclassifies the CRTs in computer monitors and television screens from “hazardous waste” to “products”, if they are to be reused or recycled. Those destined for landfill disposal would continue to be regulated under EPA’s strict hazardous waste management regulations. Currently, CRTs are considered hazardous waste, regardless of whether they are recycled or landfilled.

However, the new rule would not ban waste exports to developing countries, and the higher recovery rates that the rule would likely generate means that more waste will be processed in countries like China, India, Pakistan, and Vietnam, where environmental standards are much lower than in the United States, Puckett says. “Diverting e-waste from landfills to rice paddies isn’t a solution at all.” EPA acknowledges in the proposed rule that increased exports are a concern and is seeking comment on how to address this issue in the final rulemaking. The agency is limited, however, in what it can do legally to hinder such exports, says EPA’s Marilyn Goode.

“We don’t have the authority to treat exports differently from things that are recycled domestically,” she notes. Moreover, “the recycling market depends on exports, and we want to encourage that even though we know some of the countries involved need to have better controls in place.” Possible remedies could include working with countries to develop better recycling controls on an advisory basis, as well as making sure that parts are not being disposed of illegally.

Europe is taking a more proactive stance. Legislation currently under debate in the European Parliament and European Commission would impose further restrictions on using hazardous substances, such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and halogenated flame retardants in the manufacturing of electronic equipment, and require producers to take back their equipment free of charge once it reaches the end of its useful life.