Report slams export of "e-waste" to Asia

Report slams export of "e-waste" to Asia

Reuters Hong Kong

Waste from disused electronic components sent to developing countries such as China and India for recycling and disposal poses dangerous health and environmental consequences, according to a report scheduled to be released on Monday by watchdog groups.

The report, prepared by the Basel Action Network and the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, cited 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.

According to unnamed recycling industry resources cited in the report, between 50 and 80 percent of e-waste collected for recycling in the western United States ends up on ships headed for places such as China, where environmental oversight is less stringent.

The report said much of the waste seen in Guiyu had markings of North American origin.

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