Title: What Can We Do About the Growing E-waste Problem?
Headings: What Can We Do About the Growing E-waste Problem?
General Earth Institute
What Can We Do About the Growing E-waste Problem?
Why the upsurge in e-waste?
What’s in e-waste?
The state of e-waste recycling
What U.S. laws govern e-waste?
A problem requiring multiple solutions
Designing better products
The right to repair
Extended Producer Responsibility
More convenient recycling
Better recycling
The goal of a circular economy
What you can do about e-waste
Resources
60 Minutes: The Wasteland (e-waste in China)
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Content: A study done by the watchdog group Basel Action Network using trackers, however, found that 40 percent of the e-waste supposedly recycled in the U.S. was actually exported. Most of it ended up in developing countries—usually in Asia—where informal recycling is typically unlicensed and unregulated. At these informal recycling workshops, men, women and children recover valuable materials by burning devices to melt away non-valuable materials, using mercury and acids to recover gold, and dismantling devices by hand to reclaim other materials of value. Collecting wires which will later be burned in Guiyu, China. Photo: baselactionnetwork
Usually they do not wear protective equipment and lack any awareness that they are handling dangerous materials. Research has found that inhaling toxic chemicals and direct contact with hazardous e-waste materials (even in some formal e-waste recycling settings) result in increases in spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, premature births, reduced birth weights, mutations, congenital malformations, abnormal thyroid function, increased lead levels in blood, decreased lung function, and neurobehavioral disturbances. Moreover, e-waste toxins contaminate the air, soil and groundwater. In the face of these health and environmental hazards, however, many people in developing countries earn a living by dismantling, refurbishing, repairing and reselling used electronic devices. Guiyu, China is often considered the e-waste capital of the world, with 75 percent of households involved in the recycling business.