A girl in Guiyo, China stands in front of a pile of e-waste holding a trashed keyboard manufactured by Apple. © Greenpeace / Bruno Rebelle.

If you’ve been following this blog, you know that we’ve focused on the problem of e-waste in several posts in the past. We’re all aware of the dangers that improper disposal or recycling of e-waste poses — dangerous chemicals and substances from e-waste can leach into surrounding soil or contaminate water supplies and the air quality around dump sites.

Unfortunately, there are very few studies that have documented how harmful e-waste really is to human health. A new study published recently in the IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters aims to shed light on this issue by detailing the exact nature of how e-waste can be extremely harmful to our health.

What the researchers discovered was both heartbreaking and astounding. E-waste particles in the air that workers in the city breath directly cause “stress and inflammation leading to heart diseases, DNA damage, and cancer.”

Article: http://www.pacebutler.com/blog/e-waste-kills-new-study-reveals/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PacebutlerRecycling+%28Pacebutler+Blog%29

Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110531084958.htm

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Televisions, computers, monitors and printers may no longer be put out with the trash in South Carolina.

A statewide electronics recycling law approved in 2010 went into effect today. For households in the tri-county area, a trip to a county recycling center will be necessary to legally dispose of certain electronics.

The recycling requirement is aimed at keeping electronics, which can contain lead and hazardous materials, out of landfills and incinerators. Electronic waste can also include valuable metals and other materials that can be recycled.

Article Link: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jul/01/e-waste-law-begins-sc-tvs-computers-must-be-recycl/

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By Aidan Lewis BBC News, Rotterdam

Old televisions and computers containing hazardous substances are still being exported from Europe despite a ban aimed at stopping the trade, which poisons workers at makeshift recycling plants in Africa and Asia.

In Rotterdam a Dutch customs officer swings open a heavy metal door to reveal a pile of old televisions stacked tight within a shipping container.

Instead of proceeding to Ivory Coast, these goods will be impounded, checked and most likely sent back to Germany, from where they arrived.

This is the front line of the European effort to stop electronic and electrical equipment, consumed and discarded in ever greater quantities, from being dumped in the developing world.

What is e-waste?

• E-waste includes TVs, telephones, computers, white goods, and everyday household electrical items from toasters to toys
• Circuit boards are prized as scrap, because they contain gold, silver, copper and other elements
• These can only be retrieved safely with specialised recycling procedures
• ‘Backyard recycling’ may expose people to lead and mercury, dioxins from burning plastic, and hazardous leaching agents such as cyanide

The e-waste contains valuable metals, which are extracted at informal recycling sites.

But it also contains toxic heavy metals and hazardous chemicals that are handled by workers, some of them children.

Read Full Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10846395

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March 12th, 2010  Ashish Saklecha

Experts said exposure to toxic chemicals from e-waste – including lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and polybrominated biphenyls – can damage the brain and nervous system, affect the kidneys and liver, and cause birth defects.

The report was launched in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali. It used data from 11 developing countries to estimate current and future e-waste generation from discarded computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, cameras, music players, refrigerators, toys, televisions and other items.

China produces an estimated 2.3 million tons of e-waste annually, and though the country has banned e-waste imports, it remains a major dumping ground for waste from developed countries, the report said.

The UN research predicts that in South Africa and China, e-waste from old computers may jump by 200 to 400 per cent from 2007 levels and by 500 per cent in India.

E-waste from mobile phones in the same period is forecast to rise seven times in China, and 18 times in India.

According to the report, over 1 billion mobile phones were sold in 2007 worldwide, up from 896 million in 2006.

The report said most e-waste in China was improperly handled, with much of it incinerated by backyard recyclers to recover valuable metals like gold. Jim Pucket of the Basel Action Network, a non-governmental organization fighting the international trade in toxic wastes, said massive amounts of discarded devices had been exported to China for years.

Full Article Link: http://edutail.com/buzz/e-waste-from-around-the-world/526?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+edutail+%28Indian+Education+Blog%29

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