Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

The Basel Action Network
Waste from electronic devices littered a neighborhood in Nigeria. Computer monitors can contain large amounts of toxic materials.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/techn ... ?th&emc=th


October 24, 2005
Poor Nations Are Littered With Old PC's, Report Says
By LAURIE J. FLYNN

Much of the used computer equipment sent from the United States to developing countries for use in homes, schools and businesses is often neither usable nor repairable, creating enormous environmental problems in some of the world's poorest places, according to a report to be issued today by an environmental organization.

The report, titled "The Digital Dump: Exporting Reuse and Abuse to Africa," says that the unusable equipment is being donated or sold to developing nations by recycling businesses in the United States as a way to dodge the expense of having to recycle it properly. While the report, written by the Basel Action Network, based in Seattle, focuses on Nigeria, in western Africa, it says the situation is similar throughout much of the developing world.

"Too often, justifications of 'building bridges over the digital divide' are used as excuses to obscure and ignore the fact that these bridges double as toxic waste pipelines," says the report. As a result, Nigeria and other developing nations are carrying a disproportionate burden of the world's toxic waste from technology products, according to Jim Puckett, coordinator of the group.

According to the National Safety Council, more than 63 million computers in the United States will become obsolete in 2005. An average computer monitor can contain as much as eight pounds of lead, along with plastics laden with flame retardants and cadmium, all of which can be harmful to the environment and to humans.

In 2002, the Basel Action Network was co-author of a report that said 50 percent to 80 percent of electronics waste collected for recycling in the United States was being disassembled and recycled under largely unregulated, unhealthy conditions in China, India, Pakistan and other developing countries. The new report contends that Americans may be lulled into thinking their old computers are being put to good use.

At the Nigerian port of Lagos, the new report says, an estimated 500 containers of used electronic equipment enter the country each month, each one carrying about 800 computers, for a total of about 400,000 used computers a month. The majority of the equipment arriving in Lagos, the report says, is unusable and neither economically repairable or resalable. "Nigerians are telling us they are getting as much as 75 percent junk that is not repairable," Mr. Puckett said. He said that Nigeria, like most developing countries, could only accommodate functioning used equipment.

The environmental group visited Lagos, where it found that despite growing technology industries, the country lacked an infrastructure for electronics recycling. This means that the imported equipment often ends up in landfills, where toxins in the equipment can pollute the groundwater and create unhealthy conditions.

Mr. Puckett said the group had identified 30 recyclers in the United States who had agreed not to export electronic waste to developing countries. "We are trying to get it to be common practice that you have to test what you send and label it," he said.

Mr. Puckett also said his group was trying to enforce the Basel Convention, a United Nations treaty intended to limit the trade of hazardous waste. The United States is the only developed country that has not ratified the treaty.

Much of the equipment being shipped to Africa and other developing areas is from recyclers in the United States, who typically get the used equipment free from businesses, government agencies and communities and ship it abroad for repair, sale or to be dismantled using low-cost labor.

Scrap Computers, a recycler in Phoenix, has eight warehouses across the United States to store collected electronics before they are shipped to foreign destinations, and Graham Wollaston, the company's president, says he is opening new warehouses at the rate of one a month. Mr. Wollaston, who describes his company as a "giant sorting operation," said there was a reuse for virtually every component of old electronic devices: old televisions are turned into fish tanks for Malaysia, and a silicon glass shortage has created huge demand for old monitors, which are turned into new ones. "There's no such thing as a third-world landfill," Mr. Wollaston said. "If you were to put an old computer on the street, it would be taken apart for the parts."

Mr. Wollaston said the system was largely working, though he conceded that some recyclers dump useless equipment in various developing nations, most notably China. "One of the problems the industry faces is a lack of certification as to where it's all going," he said. He says his company tests all equipment destined for developing nations.

The Environmental Protection Agency concedes that "inappropriate practices" have occurred in the industry, but said it did not think the problem should be addressed by stopping all exports.

"E.P.A. has been working with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries for the last several years on development of a program that would provide much greater assurance that exports of recyclable materials will be environmentally sound," Tom Dunne, of the agency's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, wrote in an e-mail message.

~~~~ end NYTimes article

This shocks me ...

We just did a recycle on our old computer and TV with a local company; and I admit I didn't even think to check if they sent any out of the country. Luckily, the company we used: Got E-Waste Inc. does see disposition is done properly/that it isn’t being sent of the country thus making it someone else problem.

What Happens to the E-Waste Once Got E-Waste, Inc. Collects It?

California has created two different licensed groups to recycle e-waste: collectors and recyclers. As a licensed collector, Got E-Waste, Inc. collects the e-waste and then delivers it to a state-approved recycling facility, located in Hayward.

As a result of SB20/SB50, California has established stringent rules regarding the processing and recycling of e-waste materials that all approved vendors must adhere to. All e-waste material received at the recycling facility is processed and the different types of materials, such a metals and plastics, are separated out. The non-toxic parts are then sent overseas to be recycled and reused. These materials do NOT end up in overseas landfills nor are they burned.

Furthermore, all toxic materials extracted from the e-waste stay in the United States and are processed under controlled conditions as hazardous material. All computer monitors are processed entirely in California and the material from the monitors must be sold to state-approved vendors.
http://www.gotewaste.com/faq.htm

Lots of ‘other things’ (charity credits etc.,) attached to this issue as well …

But ~ I didn’t know this ahead of time, nor did I know enough to even ask. What I wanted (and luckily received due to dedicated environmentalist in our State ) was to dispose of my ewaste in an environmental sound way. And for us, and many others that took advantage of their “free” ewaste disposal weekend, things turned out well for everyone.

I’m glad this article, this information is coming to light though … there is so much ‘new stuff’ to learn with this ever changing and upgrading technology; including how best to dispose of it properly - and what to look for, as well as what to look out for.

That is really disgusting. Yet another opportunity for us to pollute the earth. Why don't we just grow up and stop reproducing ourselves?

Much of the used computer equipment sent from the United States to developing countries for use in homes, schools and businesses is often neither usable nor repairable, creating enormous environmental problems in some of the world's poorest places, according to a report to be issued today by an environmental organization.

Thanks for pointing out that it is the United States of America that is responsible for the problem. Got dam fucking USA. Don't you just hate it, don't you loathe it. Aren't you happy to find something to blame it for...

Routinely, and often illegally, used electronic items are shipped from Europe, Japan and the US to Asia because it is “cheaper and easier to dump the problem on countries that have poor environmental standards than to tackle it at home.”

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanheral ... 200571.asp


On a more cheerful note

For each poor child in world: a laptop
MIT Media Lab to unveil $100 hand-crank device to lift developing nations
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | September 28, 2005

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/ar ... op?mode=PF

Sub-$100 laptop design unveiled
The laptop for the world's children should be durable and self-reliant
Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Labs, has been outlining designs for a sub-$100 PC. The laptop will be tough and foldable in different ways, with a hand crank for when there is no power supply. Professor Negroponte came up with the idea for a cheap computer for all after visiting a Cambodian village. His non-profit One Laptop Per Child group plans to have up to 15 million machines in production within a year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4292854.stm

Don't let the problem get you down, or down for long ... allow the problem to open you to it's creative solution(s).

Hi abcrystcats ... Yet another opportunity for us to pollute the earth. That's what some have turned it into; and others are now recognizing and doing something about. Reducing our waste, and not passing our waste off on others, while finding creative ways to deal with the mess we've currently got.

I posted awhile back about "Kanji" - the Japanese expression for "crisis" which is made up of two characters; one meaning danger and the other opportunity.

Each situation such as these presents us with both the dangers if unchecked, along with opportunities for change; new ways of seeing; responding to situations; new companies being created that employee people dedicated to working these issues out ... what is termed in Buddhism as "Right Livelihood - Earning a living in a way that doesn't harm others."

The new company Got E-Waste is an example of recently created (by need) "Right Livelihood" ... and it's success shows that it's well supported by the people. It’s a step in the right direction, being made after many steps taken in the wrong direction(s).

If you focus just on 'the problem' it can become depressing; but when you expand your focus to include solutions; both potential and those already created and working ... depression lifts, replaced by inspiration and creativity.

I posted this article on another board and one of the respondents replied with this; another example of how a creative and useful solution has been recently born from another problem:

Shredded tires a cheap, environmentally friendly way to cover landfills
09/28/05 [ EurekAlert / University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ]
www.eurekalert.org/pub_re...092805.php

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Placing shredded tires on top of -- rather than in -- landfills can save money and benefit the environment, researchers from the University of Illinois say.

Timothy Stark, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Krishna Reddy, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, recently evaluated the use of shredded tires as a drainage material in waste-containment systems. Shredding tires into chips roughly 4 inches by 6 inches, they report, offers a simple and cost-effective way of providing drainage for modern landfills, remediating older landfills, and disposing of mountains of scrap tires.

Nearly 280 million tires are discarded annually in the United States. Piles of worn-out tires can become eyesores and breeding grounds for mosquitoes. In landfills, intact tires can collect methane (produced by decomposing waste) and create potential fire hazards. Over time, these tires can work their way to the surface, where they can damage liner covers and cause increased leachate production that could contaminate groundwater.

"As a result, many states now require that scrap tires be shredded into chips prior to disposal," Reddy said. "Instead of simply burying those chips with all the other waste, we suggest using them as a drainage layer in both modern and abandoned landfills."

The drainage layer prevents water from percolating through the waste and polluting the ground water, Reddy said. Typically, the drainage layer is composed of sand or gravel, which must be purchased and transported to the landfill.

To investigate the feasibility of using shredded tires as a surrogate drainage material, scrap tires were shredded and distributed as drainage layers at two landfills: one in southern Illinois and the other near Chicago.

Stark and Reddy monitored the two sites for such characteristics as settlement, erosion, flow rates and water quality, and compared them with conventional sites that used sand or gravel. The researchers also measured the permeability of tire chips in the laboratory.

"Our research shows that replacing the sand or gravel with a layer of tire chips works just as well and costs less," Stark said. "The tires must be shredded for disposal anyway, so there is fairly little expense compared to buying and hauling sand or gravel."

The remediation of old landfills could consume huge quantities of scrap tires. "A drainage layer one-foot-thick covering one acre requires about 70,000 tires," Stark said. "A typical landfill covers 10 to 20 acres, and there are about 150 abandoned landfills in Illinois, alone, that are in need of some degree of remediation."

Shredded tires also could be used as backfill behind retaining walls and in other locations where sand or gravel is commonly used, the researchers report.

###

The work was funded by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Editor's note:
To reach Timothy Stark, call 217-333-7394; e-mail: tstark@uiuc.edu.
To reach Krishna Reddy, call 312-996-7023; e-mail: kreddy@uic.edu.

Now's not the time to 'throw the babies out with the bath water' just cuz things are not perfect. Try not to let the problems get you down, or down for long ... and instead stay open to allowing the problem to open you to it's creative solution(s) and then be part of those.

----

ST


Thanks for pointing out that it is the United States of America that is responsible for the problem. Got dam fucking USA. Don't you just hate it, don't you loathe it. Aren't you happy to find something to blame it for...

I don't hate America ST, any more than I'm 'Unamerican' just because I don't personally want the war.

I understand your pointed comments though; you are pointing out that this problem is not just a US problem; the US is not alone in the sending of E-Waste to other countries.

I put the US part in, because I didn't want to be pointing fingers at other countries. I wasn't overlooking that other countries have their share, instead I made a choice to not focus on "theirs" for this posting, and instead kept my focusing/talking about my own relationship, and our countries relationship, with this issue.

Thanks for the additional examples of how people are facing these problems that we have and are coming up, coming out with some truly creative, helpful and useful solutions ... again; what Buddhism refers to it's "Eight Fold Path" as “right livelihood, resolve, conduct, effort, and mindfulness.”

I tend to take the long view myself. I am happy to point my finger at the disease called man. Thinking global village. Thinking of the New World and and the hope it offered the huddled masses, the refuge of humanity. Thanks for the sermon.

The dear jolly fat Buddha ise just all right with me.

I been thinking about The Magic Mountain. I just spent fourteen days under lock and key with two preachers. The clinic I was in was a former mental asylum. So pardon me if the voices in my head bother you. Don't ask what I mean. Just had a strange encounter with one of the preachers. I said something about Zen and Buddhism to one of the preachers and he looked scared. A pained expression crossed his face. We talked about the bible a lot. Everytime he went on about it I mentioned the falability of men.