E-waste trade ban won’t end environmental threat
A proposal under debate in Congress to ban the export of electronics waste would likely make a growing global environmental problem even worse, says an article from the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
The authors call into question conventional thinking that trade bans can prevent “backyard recycling” of electronics waste – primarily old and obsolete computers – in developing countries.
Primitive recycling processes used in these countries are dispersing materials and pollutants that are contaminating air, water and soil.
Electronics waste – or e-waste – is often exported from the United States and other developed nations to regions in China, India, Thailand and less developed countries where recycling is done in a crude fashion. To recover copper from e-waste, for instance, wires are pulled out, piled up and burned to remove insulation covering the copper. This emits dioxins and other pollutants. Toxic cyanide and acids used to remove gold from circuit boards of junked computers also are released into the environment.
With the number of junked computers expected to triple in the next 15 years, the authors say, the problem will grow much worse if an effective remedy is not put in place in the near future.
