What happens next is the truly scary part. Less than 10% of electronic gadgets are recycled. Some can be found on the side of the road as we all know. These fortunately tend to end up in legitimate recycling facilities. Most are put in household waste or otherwise "cleanly" discarded. Their fate is not so clear but over 90% ultimately end up in toxic dumps with no environmental standards. The comforting thought is that these dumps are located elsewhere.
Welcome to Guiyu, China, capital of toxic waste. Here a crowd estimated at between 100,000 and 150,000 labors 16 hours at a wage of $1.50 per day to recover what can be recovered from old electronics and appliances. They do so by melting circuit boards, smashing screens, dumping electronics in acid, and other not-so-environmentally friendly methods. All of it in the open. The place is so polluted that fresh drinking water needs to be shipped in daily. The streams running out of Guiyu are dangerous to most life forms. Millions of tons of toxic e-waste gets shipped here every year.
China is the final resting place for up to 70% of the world's e-waste. The rest goes to Delhi and Bangalore in India, and Kenya. China itself dumps up to one million tons in its own backyard every year. Estimates are as high as 5 million TV sets, 4 million refrigerators, 5 million washing machines, 10 million mobile phones and 5 million PC's coming from China alone.
This e-waste is a veritable who's who of toxic materials. Monitors contain up to 7% of their weight in lead. Refrigerators and air conditioners contain freon and other toxic fluorocarbons. Fluorescent tubes contain mercury vapor. Add to that fluorine, barium, chromium, cobalt, etc. All of it escapes into the air or flows freely through the streets and the people of Guiyu.
Of course there are laws in place. Switzerland was the first country to start e-waste recycling in 1991. The EU quickly followed suit and established e-waste regulations in the mid 1990's. An international treaty was signed in Basel in 1998. Not surprisingly, US did not sign the convention. Other legislation is stalled in Congress.
US efforts did not get underway until 2004 when California added a fee for recycling electronics. At first that fee was a mere token, but subsequent changes were made to bring it more in line with reality. Even so, the e-waste keeps growing and disappearing to exotic places.
According to the Associated Press, laws have little meaning in Guiyu. There are plenty of loopholes to accept imports. A $100 note taped to inside of a container is powerful incentive. The EPA estimates that exporting e-waste is 10 times cheaper than disposing of it properly. Such margins are a call to arms for free traders.
Think Guiyu when you buy another PC or another cell phone. And remember that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is trying to save lives in the third world while Microsoft is making sure your old PC goes obsolete before long.
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