I raised this point now because in another thread I responded to a poster on
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1620598">another DU-GD thread concerning a US company who is suing a Chinese company for shipping iron-shaving laced aspartame to the U.S. The poster asked the question:
How long has China been producing poison products? I wonder if they sell this crap to their own people?After reading that question and thinking about it some more, it occurred to me that many people are probably not aware that most of the vintage electronics that we throw away -- things like that old 286 or 386 PC, printers, televisions, cell phones and just about every other type of electronic devise imaginable -- many of them (about 80%) find there way onto barges and are then shipped to China, India and other poor Southeast Asian countries where people bid on the lots of electronic garbage, so that they can tear them apart for the precious metals and other substances in them. And then they are then resold to electronics makers. Who in turn make new appliances and electronic devices to sell back to the US.
The simplest way to get at these metals is burning. And of course the smoke is highly carcinogenic. And the people stand at their fires protecting them and separating the metals, exposing themselves and their children. And, in the absence of federal laws, there are only a few U.S. communities that mandate the proper disposal and recycling of this electronic waste in the US right now.
Computer firms boost recycling as electronic garbage mounts By Terence Chea
ASSOCIATED PRESS
11:01 a.m. March 3, 2007
Discarded computers, televisions, radios, batteries, cell phones, cameras and other gadgets contain a stew of toxic metals and chemicals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says American consumers generated nearly 2 million tons of electronic waste in 2005. Gartner estimates that 133,000 PCs are discarded by U.S. homes and businesses each day. Only 10 to 15 percent of electronics are currently recycled, industry analysts say. The rest collects dust in people's homes or gets dumped into municipal landfills, where environmentalists worry toxic chemicals can leak out.
Among the e-waste that is recycled, activists say, up to 80 percent is exported overseas to dismantling shops where poor workers are exposed to hazardous fumes and chemicals while trying to extract valuable metals and components.
Researchers for Greenpeace International have detected high levels of toxic metals in soil and water samples collected around electronics-dismantling workshops in China and India.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/20070303-1101-recyclingcomputers.html *** - I've been holding onto my old electronics mainly because there aren't too many places in my area that'll accept them. Office Max announced a policy to take back cellphones, but anything large like an old PC or a printer costs $$$ to get rid of through them. A few other companies like Apple have policies that allow for customers to send them their old electronics. But obviously a much larger program to dispose of these highly toxic and carcinogenic materials properly, is needed. IMHO
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