Today, the de-manufacturing and recycling industry for electronic devices lacks standards and accountability. Many companies and individuals calling themselves “recyclers” will just strip out the valuable components of electronics and sell the rest to brokers who, in turn, sell them to lower-tier scavengers. When irresponsible de-manufacturers can’t easily dump less lucrative remains in local landfills, they ship these highly toxic remnants to poorer developing nations, taking advantage of cheaper labor and a lack of environmental and safety regulations.
Living With Toxins
Vice reports on the steep price drop each time e-waste changes hands — and that’s before it even leaves the U.S. By the time your discarded TV or printer is unloaded on the dock of a developing country, the workers there can expect to earn about $0.17 per day salvaging whatever usable raw materials are left. They wade through the highly toxic remains, which are often dumped in the waterways, on farmland, or along roadsides. Local air quality suffers when CRT circuit boards are desoldered outdoors or piles of e-waste are set on fire to melt the plastics away from more valuable raw materials.
A report from the Public Affairs Information Service provides further depth: “All e-waste contains Mercury and Lead, and the practices of open burning of plastic waste, exposure to toxic solders, river dumping of acids, and widespread general dumping has become a threat to villagers’ health, environment, and culture.”
National Public Radio reports: “About 50 percent of the electronics waste sent into these areas is discarded. Lead levels in some rivers have been found to be 190 times higher than levels considered acceptable by the World Health Organization. Villagers report stomach and breathing problems, and have to ship in their drinking water.”
Poorer communities receive less dependable supplies of fresh drinking water, and those who rely on fishing for their survival and cultural identity are negatively impacted by toxic pollutants in their fishery. All of this serves to widen the considerable gap between the wealthy individuals who bring e-waste into the region and the exploited poor who work for them — as well as those who don’t. Environmental toxins affect everyone in the environment.
A Movement Toward Global Health
Organizations often collect used computer systems with the stated intent of bridging the “digital divide” in developing countries. In some cases, this might be a sincere intention rather than a cover story, but much of this equipment still ends up in shipping containers en route to an overseas dumpsite. Ultimately, it causes more harm than good for the citizens of these countries.
The Basel Action Network (BAN) shares this finding: “In Lagos [Nigeria], while there is a legitimate robust market and ability to repair and refurbish old electronic equipment including computers, monitors, TVs, and cell phones, the local experts complain that of the estimated 500 40-foot containers shipped to Lagos each month, as much as 75% of the imports are ‘junk’ and are not economically repairable or marketable.”
BAN is a charitable non-governmental organization focused on combating the export of toxic waste as part of its mission for global health and environmental justice. It was inspired by the United Nations’ 1989 conference in Basel, Switzerland, to address the growing problem of internationally shipped hazardous waste. E-waste is a major factor driving the growth of this toxic overflow, with generation and management becoming issues that must be managed globally. BAN also created the e-Stewards Certification, which has since become a standard used by today’s electronics recyclers when sourcing environmentally responsible collectors and refineries.
At GreenCitizen, we understand the root cause of the global dumping crisis: an accumulation of waste materials that developed nations simply aren’t equipped to handle. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we have a front-row seat to the tech innovation that results in a constant flow of new electronics, as well as the high standard of living that encourages consumers to replace their devices rather than repair or upgrade them. By offering an easy alternative to the strip-and-dump method that fills those outbound shipping containers, and by educating our customers about the growing e-waste problem, we’re working to minimize this crisis.
Read more about how GreenCitizen is working to change the way electronics are discarded.
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Across America, small parcels of forested land are being bought from private owners by a conservation group called Better Place Forests. With the intention of providing the roots, trunk, and branches of a tree as the site of a loved one’s final resting place, the group is also ensuring that by law the forest will
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The post A guide to water treatment technologies appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Living sustainably has become increasingly important nowadays since the environment is slowly deteriorating. The constant use of single-use plastic and immeasurable amounts of waste thrown away is a threat to nature and people’s health. Of course, it can be difficult
The post 5 Benefits Of Using Sustainable Cotton Calico Bags appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Water scarcity is a common phenomenon since only 3% of water available on earth is fit for human consumption. That’s why it’s crucial to conserve the little water we have. Eco-friendly Water treatment entails removing contaminants from water to make it
The post Why You Should Consider Using an Eco-Friendly Water Treatment Method for Your Industry appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
If there’s anything that the current pandemic has proven, it’s that most of us don’t know how to sustain ourselves without technology or heavy environmental impact. According to AP News, over seventy-eight percent of Americans they polled didn’t have enough food and
The post Self-Sustainable Living: 3 Smart Ways to Break Away From the Grid appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
For many people, they don’t need to think much about their water. All they have to do is turn on the faucet and the water is there, ready to be used. But, what if you’re trying to be more independent
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As we are closing in on 1 year since the coronavirus global pandemic has changed everything; it can be difficult to remember what it felt like to attend big events. But, as vaccines continue to roll out across the globe,
The post A Complete Guide to Attending Events Sustainably appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Global Dumping
Global Dumping
Living With Toxins
Vice reports on the steep price drop each time e-waste changes hands — and that’s before it even leaves the U.S. By the time your discarded TV or printer is unloaded on the dock of a developing country, the workers there can expect to earn about $0.17 per day salvaging whatever usable raw materials are left. They wade through the highly toxic remains, which are often dumped in the waterways, on farmland, or along roadsides. Local air quality suffers when CRT circuit boards are desoldered outdoors or piles of e-waste are set on fire to melt the plastics away from more valuable raw materials.
A report from the Public Affairs Information Service provides further depth: “All e-waste contains Mercury and Lead, and the practices of open burning of plastic waste, exposure to toxic solders, river dumping of acids, and widespread general dumping has become a threat to villagers’ health, environment, and culture.”
National Public Radio reports: “About 50 percent of the electronics waste sent into these areas is discarded. Lead levels in some rivers have been found to be 190 times higher than levels considered acceptable by the World Health Organization. Villagers report stomach and breathing problems, and have to ship in their drinking water.”
Poorer communities receive less dependable supplies of fresh drinking water, and those who rely on fishing for their survival and cultural identity are negatively impacted by toxic pollutants in their fishery. All of this serves to widen the considerable gap between the wealthy individuals who bring e-waste into the region and the exploited poor who work for them — as well as those who don’t. Environmental toxins affect everyone in the environment.
A Movement Toward Global Health
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Saudi officials have announced a massive initiative aimed at protecting the Middle East from climate change. Home to some of the world’s largest, driest, and hottest shifting-sand deserts, Saudi Arabia is uniquely placed to suffer from rising global temperatures, as are their Gulf neighbors. The Green Saudi and Green Middle East initiatives aim to take The post Saudi Arabia Plans to Plant 50 BILLION Trees – And Reduce Carbon Emissions by 60% appeared first on Good News Network.
The second-most abundant manmade material in the world is being employed by a start-up to ‘jail’ carbon dioxide produced by factories before it’s sent into the atmosphere. The material? Concrete. The startup: CarbonCure, and as well as sequestering carbon and reducing emissions, it solves a major longevity issue within concrete—strengthening the material and reducing production The post Branson-backed Company Captures Mega Tons of Carbon Injected Into Concrete–and Amazon is Building Their HQ With It appeared first on Good News Network.
Across America, small parcels of forested land are being bought from private owners by a conservation group called Better Place Forests. With the intention of providing the roots, trunk, and branches of a tree as the site of a loved one’s final resting place, the group is also ensuring that by law the forest will The post Amid the Green Funeral Movement, Scattering Ashes Ensures These Forests Remain Pristine Forever appeared first on Good News Network.
Water treatment is a process the vast majority of us give very little thought to. We turn on the faucetor flush the toilet and out it comes, ready to hydrate us or wash away our waste. But before it reaches The post A guide to water treatment technologies appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Living sustainably has become increasingly important nowadays since the environment is slowly deteriorating. The constant use of single-use plastic and immeasurable amounts of waste thrown away is a threat to nature and people’s health. Of course, it can be difficult The post 5 Benefits Of Using Sustainable Cotton Calico Bags appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Water scarcity is a common phenomenon since only 3% of water available on earth is fit for human consumption. That’s why it’s crucial to conserve the little water we have. Eco-friendly Water treatment entails removing contaminants from water to make it The post Why You Should Consider Using an Eco-Friendly Water Treatment Method for Your Industry appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
If there’s anything that the current pandemic has proven, it’s that most of us don’t know how to sustain ourselves without technology or heavy environmental impact. According to AP News, over seventy-eight percent of Americans they polled didn’t have enough food and The post Self-Sustainable Living: 3 Smart Ways to Break Away From the Grid appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
For many people, they don’t need to think much about their water. All they have to do is turn on the faucet and the water is there, ready to be used. But, what if you’re trying to be more independent The post Discovering ThePotential Well Water Contaminants and Their Impacts appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
As we are closing in on 1 year since the coronavirus global pandemic has changed everything; it can be difficult to remember what it felt like to attend big events. But, as vaccines continue to roll out across the globe, The post A Complete Guide to Attending Events Sustainably appeared first on The Environmental Blog.