Activists Push for Safer E-Recycling (horrifying pictures from China)

[Chico Man]

http://www.npr.org/programs/watc/features/2002/apr/computers/



Millions of pounds of used electronics are shipped to countries like China and India, where workers strip them by hand of their metal and plastic. A woman sorts wire in Guiya, China.



A town stream is China nearly choked with e-waste.

April 6, 2002 -- Americans will throw out about 10 million old computers this year. About two-thirds of these will be shipped to Asia for dismantling by rural villagers. The computers all contain mercury and lead, and the resulting toxic waste has become a threat to villagers' health and environment.

A coalition of activists and lawmakers has been working to improve the situation, and in recent weeks they've gotten a signed pledge from electronic manufacturers in the United States to consider a new solution. For Weekend All Things Considered, NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.

A few months ago, environmental activist Jim Puckett traveled to China to check out reports of massive dumps of electronic waste. About four hours northeast of Hong Kong, Puckett and his team came across villages along the Lianjiang River where families were burning piles of plastic computer wires in order to recover the valuable metals inside.

--------------------------------------------------------

This is 100% horrifying to me..

[Chico Man]

1. Bump

[Chico Man]

2. Did anyone else have no idea that some rivers in China looked like this?

Anyone?

[Piperay]

3. It is horrifying and not

right that other countries are stuck with our discards. The companies that are making money off these products need to come up with something better. They need to drop the 'planned obsolesce' so things don't need to be discarded so soon because they are outmoded.

[sandnsea]

4. Oh FINALLY

I've mentioned the computer dumps in China several times. I'm glad somebody finally has pictures. And we wonder why they hate us. :eyes:

[LifeDuringWartime]

5. im so glad my family never throws computers away

we either find a use for them, or pile them up in the attic.

[420inTN]

6. It is a growing International concern...

that people are finally waking up to. There have been some recent International laws and treaties to improve things. However, in the search for the bottom line, there will still be illegal recycling plants. Hell, there are still sweatshop factories and we've been fighting against those for a century.

However, the international community and PC communities are trying to improve things:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13943

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20744

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=17198

The biggest problem is finding economically viable alternatives to current lead-based fabrication methods. Our wonderful computer chips (and other parts) that allow us to have this community are made from all kinds of toxic stuff.

I have all kinds of old kit stacked up at the house because there isn't much of a safe way of disposing of them. A few months ago, my city had a recycling day where people could drop off paint, household chemicals, etc. to be safely disposed. This was the first year that the would accept electronic items. Unfortunately, I didn't learn that bit until it was too late. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to wait until the next recycling day this summer/fall.