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Recycling
e-Waste: The Sky
Is the Limit
Jan Krikke
T
he world generates has been dramatic. The city of eling the trade. According to the
about 40 million tons of Guiyu near Hong Kong, known Seattle-based Basel Action Net-
PCs, cathode-ray tube as the world’s e-waste capital, work (BAN), recycling a PC in the
(CRT) screens, fax ma- is an ecological disaster zone. US or the EU costs about US$30.
chines, game consoles, mobile Workers burn printed circuit In China and other developing
phones, and other e-waste every boards over charcoal to recover countries the cost is about $2.
year. Barely 20 percent of this usable computer chips, soak Unscrupulous recycling com-
highly toxic waste is properly the boards in acid to extract panies charge up to $20 for each
disposed of and recycled. Some gold, and dump the waste in PC collected for disposal and
e-waste is stripped of precious the Lianjiang River. They open ship them to China, India, or
metal and unusable components CRTs with hammers to harvest Africa, often labeled as charity
are dumped in landfills, poison- the copper yokes. donations or scrap metal. Chi-
ing the soil and precious water These crude recovery meth- nese recyclers pay their work-
resources. Unregulated e-waste ods release massive quantities ers about $2 per day to recover
trade affects a growing section of mercury, cadmium, and oth- precious metals and reusable
of the population. China, one er toxins into the environment. components (see Figure 1). Un-
of the largest processors of e- Around 80 percent of the chil- usable parts like plastic casings
waste, has exported jewelry con- dren in Guiyu suffer from lead and ink cartridges are dumped
taining toxic lead from e-waste. poisoning. or burned in the open air.
But public pressure to recycle According to the Guangzhou The most comprehensive at-
e-waste is having a major impact, (Canton) Institute of Geochem- tempt to deal with the problem
and e-waste recycling is now one istry, Guiyu has the highest is the European Waste Electri-
of the fastest-growing industries concentration of dioxins ever cal and Electronic Equipment
in the world. measured (see http://ewasteguide. (WEEE) Directive, a law setting
China is the recipient of about info/node/3618). India and Africa, targets for collection, recycling,
70 percent of the world’s end- and other destinations for end- and recovery of electrical prod-
of-life electronics (see http:// of-life electronics, have similar ucts. The directive covers IT and
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/ ecological disaster zones. telecommunications equipment
2007/10/071022094520.htm). Several international treaties (PCs, laptops, monitors, key-
The country has developed a regulate the trade in toxic waste, boards, printers, and cordless
huge e-waste recycling cot- but corruption, broad interpreta- phones), consumer electronics
tage industry—and the result tion of the rules, and fraud are fu- (radios, TVs, DVD players, and
50 IT Pro January/February 2008 Published by the IEEE Computer Society 1520-9209/08/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
video recorders), household ap-
pliances, and electrical tools.
WEEE puts the responsibility
for the disposal of e-waste with
the producers, importers, and
retailers of EEE goods. These
companies are compelled to
take back end-of-life products
and dispose of them in an eco-
logically responsible manner or
refurbish them.
Implemented in 2004, the re-
sults of the directive have been
mixed. According to Norbert
Zonneveld, executive secretary
of the European Electronics Re-
cyclers Association (EERA), the
EU’s recycling rate is still below
30 percent. WEEE places the re-
sponsibility for recycling on the
M
strictions by state agencies: “The itra and his Liberty cious metal out of e-waste, they
West can impose its own restric- Institute have power- will ultimately put the backyard
tions or standards,” says Barun ful allies, among them recyclers out of business.
Mitra, director of the institute. the US government, the United
“But the West claiming to know Nations Center for Trade and Readers may contact Jan Krikke at
what is best for poor countries Development (UNCTAD), the jankrikke@gmail.com.