Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Dr D.B. Boralkar, member-secretary of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, and
an expert on e-waste in India, notes that the burning of materials to extract metals for
recycling is a 'process [that] releases pollutants that cause diseases like silicosis, pulmonary
edema, circulatory failure and suchlike'.
14
Ravi Agarwal argues that governments, indus-
tries and consumers in the global North and within India contribute to this kind of 'devel-
opment', so it is a complex problem.
In a 2003 report by Toxics link India, it was revealed that the 'disposal and recycling of
computer waste in the country has become a serious problem since the methods of dis-
posal are very rudimentary and pose grave environmental and health hazards.
15
The
import of hazardous waste into India is actually prohibited by a 1997 Indian Supreme
Court directive, which re
ects the Basel Ban on hazardous waste exports from OECD to
non-OECD nations (see below). Northern nations, however, continue to export e-waste
to southern nations such as India, rather than managing it themselves. So the trade in e-
waste is camou
fl
aged and is a thriving business in India, conducted under the pretext of
obtaining 'reusable' equipment or 'donations' from northern nations.
16
In 2004, the British Environment Agency (BEA) released a report indicting companies
in the UK for sending tens of thousands of tons of e-waste illegally to India and other
Asian nations. Kishore Wankhade of Toxics Link stated: 'The trade is absolutely illegal
and against the spirit of the Basel Convention.'
17
His colleague, Ravi Agarwal, noted,
fl
We have been repeatedly stating for the past two years that tons of e-waste are landing in
various Indian ports every year for recycling. In the absence of access to customs data, this
could never be verified. The BEA report, however, squarely indicts developed countries like
USA and UK.
18
In 2004, K.S. Sudhakar, also of Toxics Link, found that a shipment of e-waste was misla-
beled as 'metal scrap' when it arrived at the port in the city of Chennai, India. The misla-
beling of toxics is one of the most common methods of getting such waste past the
authorities and through loopholes in the Basel Convention, a UN-sponsored mechanism
that prevents the export of hazardous chemicals from OECD to non-OECD nations. Toxics
Link's research reveals that more than 70 percent of electronic waste collected in recycling
facilities in Delhi was exported or dumped by northern nations such as the USA.
19
This is high-tech environmental inequality, since the majority of these toxics
ow from
North to South, from wealthy to poorer communities. There are three primary reasons
why e-waste is increasingly
fl
fl
ooding southern nations:
1.
Labor costs are very low (in China e-waste workers earn only $1.50 per day)
2.
Environmental and occupational regulations are lax or not well enforced
3.
It is legal in the USA, despite international law to the contrary, to allow export of
hazardous e-wastes with no controls whatsoever.
20
The global movement for extended producer responsibility
A sophisticated transnational social movement e
ort has emerged to document these
problems, and activists have had success in changing corporate environmental policies
and passing local, national and international legislation to address the worst dimensions
of the e-waste crisis. Many of the organizations mentioned above are taking the lead on
these critical concerns.
ff
