Waste Exports to Developing Countries
Developed countries have technical and regulatory controls that are more sophisticated relative to those in developing countries. This leads to more severe environmental and health impacts from the electronics industry. It is common practice for some developed countries to export their e-waste to developing countries. This practice is whitewashed by claims that it is supporting the economies of those countries. The very small economic gain cannot begin to match the huge and devastating environmental and health costs.
For years, environmental groups such as Greenpeace have warned of outdoor electronics burning en masse in Asian countries. Some of the practices of the electronics recycling industry in developing countries have been documented. Environmental health threats to the local communities abound. Unprotected workers, many of them children, spend their days heating circuit boards in shallow woks to melt the lead solder so they can pull the computer ships off for resale or for acid stripping to recover gold. As the lead and plastic burn, they release to the air toxic fumes that can be inhaled, ingested and absorbed through the skin. The molten lead residue is simply poured onto the ground. Samples have been taken of soil, sediment and water in the river area around recycling sites, and results show levels hundreds of times those deemed safe in developed countries.
At another recycling site in China, plastic wire casings are burned in open pits, mainly at night because the practice is not in favour with local authorities – it results in massive black smoke plumes. The materials being burned contain polyvinyl chloride and BFRs which both produce dioxins when burned at low temperatures. The surrounding village is blackened with the toxic soot.
In other cases computer chips are dissolved in pits full of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. This results in a toxic sludge and toxic smoke and fumes that are visible for kilometres. The used acids and sludges are dumped into the local river