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REPORT SLAMS EXPORT OF 'E-WASTE' TO ASIA

by Eric Auchard and Tony Munroe NEW YORK/HONG KONG (Reuters)

NEW YORK/HONG KONG, February 25, 2002 -- Discarded U.S. computers built with toxic materials are being exported and unsafely disposed of in countries such as China and India, according to a report released on Monday by watchdog groups.

The growing trade in electronic waste, or e-waste, poses dangerous health and environmental risks for recycling workers, said U.S.-based environmental groups Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, which authored the report.

"The export of e-Waste remains a dirty little secret of the high-tech revolution. Scrutiny has been studiously avoided by the electronics industry, by government officials, and by some involved in e-waste recycling," the study charged.

The study asserts that 50 to 80 percent of electronics waste collected for recycling in the Western United States is put on container ships bound for Asia where waste handling costs are far lower and environmental rules lax.

While exact data is hard to come by, the authors of the report estimate that the 500 million computers in the world contain 6.32 billion pounds (2.87 billion kg) of plastics, 1.58 billion pounds (716.7 million kg) of lead and 632,000 pounds (286,700 kg) of mercury.

About 70 percent of heavy metals found in U.S. landfills comes from electronic discards such as circuit boards, wires, steel casings and other parts.

U.S. government and industry groups responded to the study by saying more could be done to stem the flow of e-waste.

The Arlington, Virginia-based Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) issued a statement saying it was "deeply concerned by the findings" and that it was working with U.S. regulators on better ways of managing end-of-life products.

"EIA continues to promote the re-use and recycling of our products at the end-of life as the most environmentally sound option for consumers," the industry trade association said.

The alliance is composed of major U.S. high-tech trade groups and 2,300 member companies representing much of the $550 billion a year industry. With most high-tech manufacturing now based overseas, especially in Asia, export of discarded parts is needed to promote the re-use of old components, EIA said.

A CHINESE VILLAGE BECOMES U.S. DUMPING GROUND

The investigative report singled out evidence gathered in the town of Guiyu, in southern China's Guangdong province, where so-called "e-waste" including computer monitors and printers is dismantled at hundreds of sites.

Workers in Guiyu use often-rudimentary tools to extract primary elements from scrapped components: computer circuit boards, lead and tin-based solder for resale, aluminum from printer parts and the copper-heavy yokes of cathode-ray tubes.

"A tremendous amount of imported e-waste material and process residues is not recycled but is simply dumped in open fields, along riverbanks, ponds, wetlands, in rivers and in irrigation ditches," the report said.

Materials dumped in Guiyu included lead-laden glass from cathode-ray tubes, burned or acid-reduced circuit boards, and printer toner cartridges.

The report said sediment and water samples taken from the area indicated the presence of high levels of heavy metals of the kind found in computers and other electronic components,

"Vast amounts of e-waste material, both hazardous and simply trash, is burned or dumped in the rice fields, irrigation canals and along waterways," the report said.

The report said much of the waste seen in Guiyu had markings of North American origin, including equipment from U.S. state and local governments.

U.S. POLICY GEARED TOWARD RECYCLING

The EIA trade association said the flow of toxic waste will not be reduced until cost-effective substitutes can be found for critical chemicals, heavy metals, and other materials needed to build an ever-growing range of electronic devices.

But critics of the waste exports said the United States is out of step with the international Basel Convention, which in 1994 adopted a total ban on the export of all hazardous wastes from rich to poor countries for any reason, including recycling.

While the United States has resisted adopting the Basel rules, all 15 members of the European Union have passed laws that would require producers to take responsibility for the full life-cycle of products containing toxic materials. The EU is developing a directive to enforce these limits.

Responsibility for old computer parts is complicated by the far-flung global supply chain whereby name-brand manufacturers sub-contract piece work to low-cost contractors overseas, who in turn sub-contract to others. A typical U.S. PC designed in Texas may have computer chips built in Taiwan, circuit boards put together in Malaysia and final assembly done in Mexico.

Elizabeth Cotsworth, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Solid Waste, said the United States was very concerned about the growing flows of electronic or e-waste flowing to the developing world.

She said the United States and other wealthy nations represented in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) would meet in Washington in March to discuss possible standards for recycling hazardous electronic wastes.

The EPA plans to propose changes to U.S. hazardous waste laws within the next four to six weeks aimed at encouraging greater recycling, reuse and remanufacture of such wastes, she said.

"We support recycling as a reasonable way of dealing with this particular waste stream," Cotsworth told Reuters. "What we want to do is ensure that it is done in an environmentally sound manner, whether it's done in the United States or abroad."

Titled "Exporting Harm: The Techno Trashing of Asia," the report included contributions from Toxics Link India, SCOPE (Pakistan), and Greenpeace China.