End the Dumping of e-Waste into the Developing World
Posted August 15, 2010 in Curbing Pollution, Environmental Justice, Green Enterprise, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably
The New York Times Magazine published a photo essay titled “Dumping Across the Digital Divide” this week, which documents the dumping and hazardous management of electronic waste in Ghana. (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/04/magazine/20100815-dump.html )This practice is not limited to Ghana and infects many other developing countries including China, India and Pakistan.
As NRDC’s representative to the United Nations Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste in the late 1980s, a treaty that was intended to end the dumping of hazardous wastes by industrialized countries into the developing world, I have watched with disappointment for almost two decades as the United States stands virtually alone in the world in not ratifying that treaty. The dumping of electronic waste, which was a very small fraction of our concern when we negotiated the Basel treaty, is now a huge hazardous waste problem in the developing world, contaminating water supplies and land with toxic heavy metals, dioxins, PCBs and acids, and putting some of the world’s poorest populations at great risk.
Even with all that we know about this illicit, dangerous and unethical trade, it is unlikely that the United States Congress will ratify the Basel treaty due to opposition from unethical waste processors with strong political clout in Washington, DC. And it is even less likely that Congress will enact amendments to the Basel treaty adopted by European Union nations that strengthen it and make the export of e-waste to the developing world outright illegal.
Self-interested firms who export e-waste to the developing world misleadingly argue that this is a “Free Trade” issue. Or they claim to be “donating” used electronics to poor people around the world who can’t afford new electronic equipment. What they are really doing is hiding behind phantom policies that sound nice but in fact export poisons to some of the poorest people on Earth, people already disproportionately burdened with unimaginable ecological, financial, social and political problems.
A new certification program called e-Stewards can help US businesses and consumers avoid becoming complicit in e-waste dumping. E-Stewards, which certifies that a recycler is not exporting e-waste for dumping, is the only certification program designed and supported by the environmental community. E-Stewards certification is also the only program that comports with international laws against e-waste dumping. Businesses and consumers should be wary of recyclers touting any other certification scheme for e-waste management, or none at all. Indeed, some e-waste certification schemes were designed by representatives of the companies that engage in dumping and seek to preserve business as usual.
Join the Conversation
Comment on this post:
All pertinent comments offered in the spirit of civil conversation are welcome! Off-topic comments, commercial spam, obscenity and other rude behavior are not, and will be removed. We are also required to remove any express or implied statement endorsing or opposing any political party or candidate for political office. Valid email addresses are required. (NRDC respects your privacy; we will not use, lend, or sell your email address for any reason.)
Comments (Add yours)
Gladys — Aug 15 2010 05:01 PM
There was a documentary recently on PBS TV showing places where all the computers, printers, cell phones end up and the children are the employees. Some of the pieces were burning and the smoke so thick-I do not even understand why they have to ship e-waste to third world countries? It is a shame!
Mike Anane — Aug 15 2010 05:56 PM
Exporting
electronic waste illegally to poor countries has become a vast and
growing international business, as companies in the industrialised
countries the US in particular try to minimize the costs of having to
properly dispose or recycle them responsibly at home.
...The US should as a matter of urgency ban the export of hazardous electronic waste to developing countries and also ratify the Basel convention. It is urgent that the industrialized countries put in place
the necessary checks and balances or systems to curb the increasing
illicit shipments of electronic waste from their countries and their
subsequent dumping in Ghana and other countries.
Everyone has the right to live in a world
free from toxic pollution and environmental degradation. export of hazardous electronic waste to developing countries. Please see our page on facebook for more on the impact of e-waste dumping in Ghana and why the US should ban e-waste exports and also ratify the basel convention.
E-WASTE WATCH GHANA monitors, documents and exposes the public health
and environmental impacts of the illegal shipments and dumping of
e-waste in Ghana by the developed countries and provides a springboard
for global action in the fight against the illegal dumping of toxic
waste and pollution in poor and developing countries. We invite you to
visit our campaign page on facebook and also share interests and
experiences related to e-waste dumping. Please follow these links.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/E-Waste-Watch-Ghana/128902477153239?created
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=544218491&ref=ts
JMGPublic — Aug 16 2010 07:08 PM
Dude; Where do you think this waste comes from; NEW YORK CITY.
Where did you dispose of your last PC, That last set of batteries;
that power brick, yeah the one with the PCB's
You remember where you put that right oh yeah Ghana.
Robin — Aug 19 2010 05:58 PM
Was with you up until the last paragraph, i.e.
The photographs in Ghana show bad practices. But there are also really great operations which you could be proud to export to. You wrote:
"E-Stewards, which certifies that a recycler is not exporting e-waste for dumping, is the only certification program designed and supported by the environmental community. E-Stewards certification is also the only program that comports with international laws against e-waste dumping."
This appears to disrespect the support by EPA, WR3A, Techsoup, UNCTAD, and other environmental organizations for "R2" or Responsible Recyclers certification carefully considered arguments of the E-Steward founders. Upon reviewing Basel Convention Annex IX, B1110, and reviewing evidence that SOME overseas companies actually do a BETTER job at repair and reuse and recycling than the USA, R2 left open the possibility that an overseas company can meet the same standard - but requires downstream audits and proof. I'd invite NRDC to visit some of the success stories in "fair trade" recycling.
I welcome the dialogue and believe NRDC will help various environmental organizations find more middle ground, and help to lift up the thousands of people in the developing world who want to run clean recycling programs.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ingenthron/ContractCRTManufacturersAlbum?feat=directlink
Lauren Roman — Aug 31 2010 05:00 PM
Part of the problem is the confusion and misunderstanding among companies and consumers trying to responsibly recycle their electronics. They need to either become industry experts or choose a certified recycler.
Only the e-Stewards Standard for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment® was written for international use and complies with international law, prohibiting export of hazardous electronic waste and broken equipment containing hazardous components to developing countries. Citizens of these countries may indeed have the skills to repair equipment for reuse. Their countries do not, however, have the infrastructure to protect them from the hazards of handling and disposing of broken parts that can't be recovered.
The bottom line is that too much electronic waste is being exported under the guise of reuse and there is little way to distinguish a load of junk going for scavenging and a load of junk going for repair. We need to only export good, working electronics to developing countries and take care of our hazardous waste in our own backyards. e-Stewards Recyclers are the only ones required to do just that.
Ray Singh — Jan 5 2011 03:03 PM
While there are other guidelines for the recycling industry, e-Steward is the only e-waste standard. I think we finally have a guideline written by environment leaders in the industry on recycling and resue of electronic equipment. I think we need to enfore companies to follow the e-Steward guidelines strictly when exporting electronic equipment to third world countries.