The Scope of US E-Waste 249
theodp writes "Every day, Americans toss out more than 350,000 cell phones and 130,000 computers, making electronic waste the fastest-growing part of the US garbage stream. A lot of the world's e-waste is exported to Guiyu, China, where peasants heat circuit boards over coal fires to recover lead (a 15" computer monitor can pack up to 7 lbs. of Pb), while others use acid to burn off bits of gold. Guiyu's willingness to deal with lead, mercury and other toxic materials generates $75 million a year for the village, but as a result. Guiyu is slowly poisoning itself with the highest level of cancer-causing dioxins in the world. The village experiences elevated rates of miscarriages, and its children suffer from an extremely high rate of lead poisoning. TIME suggests checking out recycling brokers and accredited e-stewards the next time you're ready to toss a gizmo."
Out of date info (Score:5, Interesting)
China hasn't been accepting E-Waste for at least 18 months. Now it goes mostly to West Africa.
Charity cell phone recycling scam (Score:3, Interesting)
Cell providers try to get used phones off the market by setting up charity drop boxes for women's shelters with the idea being that the phones actually go to the shelters. In actual fact the phones get dumped overseas, and the charity receives a pittance for use of their name on the side of the box. Cell providers benefit because this forces people to but new phones which are tied to contracts.
There are legit phones for shelters programs, but if it says something like "only put the phone in the box, not the charger" then the phones will just end up overseas, not reused.
7 pounds is complete BS (Score:5, Interesting)
I sort of gagged on the number 350,000 cell phones (130,000) computers a day? But it makes sense. in 2005 a survey found 69% of americans had cell phones. That's about 250 million users. So if mean replacement time is 2 years, that's 342K a day! Computer's last longer aparently to account for the lower discard number.
However the 7 pounds of lead in a 15 pound computer is complete BS. First most CRTs weigh about 30 pounds so this 15 pound number is perverse. If we assume that only referes to the computer itself and not the CRT we can still estimate the amount of lead using numbers from various studies:
According to this report [ewasteguide.info] 98% of the lead attributed to computers is in the CRT glass. (interesting the report also notes that 75% of CRTs are stored not recycled). However for a 15 pound computer system, only slightly more than half of that is the CRT. And CRT's are not made of 90% lead.
indeed this pdf article determiened that nearly all the lead in a CRT is not in the heavy panel portion but is in fact in the neck and frit seals.
most of the lead however is bound up. the leachable lead is still considerable however.
The actual [eiae.org] amount of lead in a 27 pound CRT (19% screen) is 2.2 or less than 10%. If CRT's have 90% of the lead in a computer system then a computer is about 1% of it's weight in lead. so a 15 pound computer ought ot have about 0.15 pounds of lead not 7 pounds.
the article is BS.
Re:7lbs? (Score:4, Interesting)
While I've not been to China, everything I've read leads me to believe that China can't control what's happening. They simply don't have established institutions like the EPA and the regulatory overhead that we accept as normal for business operation in the West. Want to open a manufacturing plant somewhere? Just do it. Pay off the local party chief and set it up. Dump your waste into the local river.
That's why melamine, lead, and God knows what else ends up in food and toys.. because there's nobody to go inspect the plants and see just what it is they're doing. All the central government can do when a scandal breaks is take a bunch of guys, put them up against the wall, and hope everyone else takes note.
So, yes, while it is undeniably China's fault for not having a better handle on what's going on inside their borders, it will take years and years before they have the systems in place to be able to do anything about it.
What about appliances? (Score:4, Interesting)
Still, I'll note that they go on about this being the 'fastest growing part of the US waste stream'. First, I imagine that it's the fastest growing part of the WORLD's waste stream. Ever considered how many cellphones China has? While yes, 350k cell phones might be tossed every day, and this seems a lot, it's scare tactics. First, the growth is unsustainable. Much longer and you'd have to assume either everybody starts carrying multiple phones or starts disposing of them faster. Not incredibly likely. After all, cellphones are starting to reach the point where they already do everything people want, so they won't necessarily trade out every couple years, plus they've improved battery technology substantially - I'd imagine that a large number of replacement cell phones were because the battery wasn't lasting very long anymore.
Second, consider appliances. How many cell phones does it take to equal a fridge? Figure a fridge lasts 20 years. That means with a 2 year lifespan for cellphones, you'd only toss 10 cellphones per fridge. Maybe 20 if you figure on being a 2 phone family. The fridge is still a LOT more material.
Still, doesn't mean we can't do more by making chargers more universal, remembering that the batteries are replaceable, and get the cell phone companies to stop locking their phones up so tight that poorer people can get a donated phone, maybe spend $20 on a new battery and add a prepaid plan chip. After all, reuse beats recycling in the chart I was taught - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Blame for everyone? (Score:2, Interesting)
Oddly enough, I did a research paper on this subject my last semester. The problem with e-waste being exported is mainly that there is no real guidelines for exporting electronic waste. Most of the material is considered hazardous because of the metals and BFR's used in manufacturing.
There are companies who say they recycle the products and then just ship the junk over-seas. It's an "Out of sight, out of mind" type of thinking that is impacting other places around the world. Not only that, but most consumers have no idea of what to do with their old electronics. They (clearly an assumption here) probably know the materials need to be recycled but have no idea of how to achieve such a thing. So it ends up sitting in the closet, or storage, or gets thrown into the municipal waste. Of course take back programs are becoming increasingly more common and are now required (I believe).
As for getting the stuff recycled, when someone tries to recycle their old product, they often get charged a recycling fee, such as at Circuit City or Staples. Dumping is 'free' while recycling costs money. Of course none of these things are going to be fixed over night. Just how can this be solved?
Companies should bear the cost (Score:5, Interesting)
I've always said, companies should be responsible for the entire lifecycle of any product they produce, including its safe disposal. The way things are now, they are allowed to just dump that cost onto the public, and everyone has to pay the price of mass-consumption, which is mass-disposal.
If your company's monitor costs $30 to dispose of properly, that cost should be your company's responsibility. Of course, the company will just pass the cost on to the customer, but that's OK, since it's the customer who's wallet is hit, not the general public. Products that are toxic and cause cancer if they seep into the groundwater SHOULD cost people much, much more, to disincentivise companies from making them in the first place. Maybe higher prices for toxic difficult-to-dispose goods would get people to repair things instead of just tossing them into the bin. At least the extra cost would get them to consider that whatever they are buying is expensive to toss into the Earth.
As it is now, people just buy the cheapest product they can find without regard for the damage it does to the environment, because that damage is done to "those other people somewhere". Make that damage hit their wallet, and you'll see change.
Re:And I care why? (Score:2, Interesting)
This village has traditionally been an agrarian society. Therefore these citizens DO have a choice; they have the choice to stick with a traditional farming lifestyle.
They choose to take-apart lead-filled CCAs and CRTs because they have made a *voluntary* decision to abandon their farming culture and become factory workers. I believe in Pro-choice and their right to make that choice.
Re:I "dispose" of my stuff on Ebay. (Recycle) (Score:4, Interesting)
I used to do that too, but now eBay in their infinite greed, is forcing everybody to take PayPal.. Which means the fact that you put "AS-IS" in your auction description, and the fact that there are NO returns, is ignored by PayPal, who cheerfully refunds the buyers money, and usually you are out your item AND your $$$. When I sold "as-is" electronics, I described the item extensively, took lots of pix, and took checks/mo's only... Worked fine, from 1998 to now... Now with the inmates running the asylum at eBay, I'm steering clear of it until/if the eBay Board of Directors finally say "enough" and can JD..
Digital TV Switchover (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Charities (Score:3, Interesting)
They already exist and have for quite some time, especially out here in California the epicenter for computer development and waste.
Mainly churches have been the center piece for this volunteer business and salvation army.
Some woman in downtown Los Angeles does this on her free time accepting these old computers, they strip them and see what parts still work. They rebuild another computed and sell them for very cheap to people who are poor. It allows a lot of Mexican children to finally have a computer to accomplish basic work.
This has been going on for a long time, I am surprised it has gotten no coverage on Slashdot compared to all the time wasted on the dead end project of OLPC.
I remember the local news station had pictures of some poor Mexican lady coming down with only $15 in her hand, she walked out with a working desktop computer, screen and printer all working. They had gone from nothing to something, later they showed the computer in some little girls room as she was using it with a smile.
http://www.usedcomputer.com/nonprof.html [usedcomputer.com]
www.agreenspan.org
http://www.globalcrisis.info/computerrecycle.html [globalcrisis.info]
http://www.microsoft.com/Education/TenTips.mspx [microsoft.com]
http://www.recycle-it.uk.com/donating.htm [uk.com]
Standards cut waste (Score:2, Interesting)
Every goddamn device that comes out absolutely must have a connector or power cord that is incompatible with every other device. For example, the Thinkpad T43 and T60 have incompatible power cords (not to pick on Lenovo; it's just typical). This lack of standards leads to the junking of millions of electronic items every year.
When your cell phone battery burns out, it costs almost as much as a new phone to replace it. Often, a battery for a phone more than a year old is simply unobtainable, and a perfectly usable phone goes in the trash. There is a dizzying array of battery and power cord types. They come in an endless array of forms and types, all of which are mutually incompatible. Power cords often contain transformers that are packed with nasty chemicals. That we throw so many of them away unnecessarily every year is criminal.
The FCC needs to get with standard boards such as ANSI and IEEE to create standards for connectors and power cords for small electronic devices.
Were all electronic appliances to work like this, you would have to have an electrician come install a different plug for every device (TV, fridge, microwave, dishwasher, blender, griddle, desk lamp, alarm clock, radio, etc) that you own.
The current system in large part owes to corporate greed. Companies are motivated by the ability to charge exorbitant prices for their one-of-a-kind accessories. The Obama administration should step in and implement a "green" measure that would quickly make us all better off.
Re:Blame for everyone? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Chinese Recycling costs (Score:3, Interesting)
Iron and copper could be depleted by the end of the century.
A landfill isn't a blackhole. That's why I mentioned digging it out of the landfill eventually. Besides, as Freefrag mentioned, we're unlikely to run out of iron, while copper is already mostly recycled.
What's actually happening is that as the rest of the world industrializes, they want copper for their infrastructure and devices, so the total tons of copper needed is increasing substantially.
Copper@$1.50/pound might not make it economical to recycle some of the small stuff, but at $3/pound it makes sense, and at $4.50 we're digging it out of the landfills.
As for computers, while the components are expensive, ultimately are negligible in respect to their power. They've also enabled far more effective usage of resources.
I'd worry more about oil than our mineral resources. Even if we end up digging up our landfills for various metals, at least they can be recycled. Once oil's burned, well, you're basically starting from scratch to make more oil.
Re:7lbs? (Score:3, Interesting)
The leaded part is the front. Manufacturers put metal shields made of iron either inside or outside to stop the soft xrays. To prevent hard xrays they instituted drastic safety features that monitor voltage, current, high voltage, and high voltage current. If a problem were to be detected the device would shut down. The manufacturers who did the monitoring most successfully could then make their CRT's less expensive. Once the patents ran out every manufacturer used this technology. Sony had an internal shield which I believe they patented, at some point all manufactures used internal soft xray shields.
Eventually the manufacturers got the weight down substantially. I do not have figures on that but suspect the article is tainted by gross bias.
It's moot since CRT's of any kind are DEAD. Long Live OLED!!! ... Please?
Re:And I care why? (Score:3, Interesting)
Some people just aren't that intelligent and/or informed. We dump shitloads of CO2 into the environment but a lot of people still don't make the connection with global warming. People that do recognize the effects of global warming still tend to drive cars, use electricity, and heat their homes despite the negative impact on the environment.
It's not really a choice then is it? It's a matter or survival.