Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
18
The global waste trade and environmental justice
struggles
David Naguib Pellow
The problem: electronic waste
For most people, the word 'pollution' conjures up images of smoke stacks, oil slicks in the
Atlantic Ocean, or over
owing garbage dumps. Many US residents tend to go about their
lives believing that environmental problems are 'out there' and disconnected from their
daily routines. Unfortunately, the electronics that people use every hour of the day are also
responsible for much of the world's pollution. The average US household owns 25 con-
sumer electronics products, and since people typically replace these items in very short
cycles, they create an enormous amount of electronic waste or e-waste.
E-waste is the most rapidly growing waste stream in the world, and experts project
continued growth into the foreseeable future. European studies estimate that the volume
of e-waste is increasing by three to
fl
ve percent per year, which is almost three times faster
than the municipal waste stream is growing generally. 1
In the USA, 315 million computers became obsolete between 1997 and 2004 and about
100 000 every day since. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 130 million
cell phones were discarded in 2005, resulting in 65 000 tons of e-waste. This creates a com-
bined 300 000 tons of electronic junk annually. In all, an estimated 80% of our electronic
waste ends up improperly disposed of in US land
fi
lls and incinerators, or recycled by
prison labor under hazardous conditions (44 million pounds of electronic waste were
recycled by prison labor in 2004), or shipped overseas, where some of the poorest and
youngest citizens in places such as China, Nigeria and Pakistan might pick through our
old printed circuit boards, printers, and other discards for a meager wage.
The USA remains the chief source of e-waste globally, since US consumers purchase
more computers than the citizenry of any other nation. While the USA leads the world in
consumption and disposal of these goods, the situation in Europe is not much better. For
example, an estimated 1 million tons of electrical waste is produced in the UK each year
and is increasing by 5 percent annually. Of this volume, 90 percent is thrown into land
fi
fi
lls
or incinerators. 2
Environmental and public health risks
The electronics industry is the largest manufacturing sector globally, and, contrary to
popular conceptions, it is generally not environmentally 'clean'. The IT sector creates
large volumes of pollution and waste every year. And even when consumers try to do the
right thing by recycling e-waste, the products are often shipped abroad for disassembly
and then use in new manufacturing processes or are simply dumped.
E-waste is a problem not only of quantity but also one of toxic ingredients - such as
the lead, beryllium, mercury, cadmium and brominated
ame retardants - that pose
major occupational and environmental health threats. 3 Computer or television displays
(CRTs) contain an average of four to eight pounds of lead each. Monitor glass contains
fl
225
 
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