E-Waste
... dump their computers into trash for disposal in the local landfill in United States and it is cheaper to buy a new computer rather than upgrade the old one these day. Second, large businesses, institutions, and governments, such as Microsoft, hospital and university. Third, original equipment manufacturers (OEMS), such as Hewlett Packard, IBM and Dell. These companies have started their own recycling program, such as IBM has its recycling program in NY, and HP has two recycling facilities in California and Tennessee. Disposing and recycling E-Waste has serious environmental program because of the hazards substance inside those products. Landfills would lead to leach toxins into groundwater and incinerators emit toxic air pollutants including dioxins. The recycling industry is always thinks about the profit and doesn’t care about the environment and workers’ health. According to a recycling industry insider that around 80% of E-waste for recycling is being exported to Asia and 90% of them will go to China. Recycling rates are expected to increase 18% per year. Rather than to solving the E-waste problem, exporting E-waste developing countries to Asia become a way to avoid those problems due to cheaper labor, lack of environmental standards and such export is still legal in the United States. They also have some reasons for the export. They have argued that because electronics are mainly manufactured in Asia, then take these waste materials back to Asia makes some kind of sense from either a moral or environmental standpoint, back to where it come. In December of 2001, the Basel Action Network (BAN) conducted an investigation about the recycling conditions of imported E-waste in China. Guiyu, located about an hour’s drive west of Shantou City in the Chaozhou region of the greater Guangdong Province. Guiyu becomes an E-waste processing center since 1995. On street E-waste dismantling operation is very common in Guiyu. The tools they use to dismantling E-waste are very simple. They use hammers and chisels and their hand to separate the waste into aluminum, steel, copper, plastic and circuit boards. They work without any health protection. Drinking water is routinely transported to Guiyu from NinJing due to severe groundwater pollution. An old Villager who has lived in Guiyu for 60 years said that, “For money, people have made a mess of this good farming village. After they have dismantled the computers, they burn the useless parts. Every day villagers inhale this dirty air; their bodies have become weak. Many people have developed respiratory and skin problems. Some people wash vegetables and dishes with the polluted water, and they get stomach sickness.” For different component of the Computer, they process differently to get the materials they want. However, those operations would lead to potential occupational hazard and environmental hazard. For example, they remove the copper yoke from the Cathode-ray tubes and dump the rest part. Worker would inhale with phosphor containing cadmium or other metal, and lead barium and other heavy metals leaching into groundwater. Workers would inhale tin and lead by de-soldering and removing computer chips from circuit boards. Opening burning of waste boards that have had chips removed to remove final metals leads toxicity to workers and nearby people from tin, lead, brominates dioxin and cadmium inhalation. Using paintbrushes to recover toner from ...