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.
How much easier would our lives be if, like our bodies, our possessions could regenerate their own material to fix any damages they sustained? Well, thanks to some very clever folks in England, concrete could be made self-regenerating by the addition of a simple enzyme found in our blood—repairing cracks in the sidewalk, roads, or
The post This Self-Healing Cement Automatically Fills Any Cracks That Form, To Save Energy and Money appeared first on Good News Network.
An eco-warrior has made an impressive amount of money by making toys, keyrings, mosquito repellents, and organic compost from old cigarette butts. 26-year-old Naman Gupta was inspired when he saw a huge pile of cigarettes left after a party, and wondered how many were dumped across the world on a daily basis. So now he
The post Eco-Warrior Makes Toys, Mosquito Repellent, and More With Recycled Cigarette Butts – The Most Littered Item appeared first on Good News Network.
Growing across much of Asia, it’s known by many names: including Indian Beech, pongamia, Karum tree, kranji, and malapari. Pongamia pinnata is a member of the pea family that is being considered by Indonesian forestry experts for potential landscape restoration and the future of bioenergy. A number of big challenges are bearing down on the Indonesian
The post This Single Tree Could Restore Degraded Land, Create a Biofuel Revolution, Power Cars, and Feed Families 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.
The kitchen is one of the busiest rooms in a house, and its activities can match a manufacturing process. In such a progression of activities, it is difficult to avoid waste. However, it is possible to devise ways of handling
The post How to Be More Sustainable in the Kitchen appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Humanity has greatly affected the environment since ancient times and continues to do so. Have you ever thought about how I can prevent the effects of global warming, which we feel the effect of today? So let’s take a look
The post Is It Possible To Prevent Global Warming? appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Image Source America is running out of fresh water. Population growth is increasing demand for water consumption, putting severe strain on the country’s water resources. Scientists predict that within the next 50 years, many regions of the United States will
The post How to Improve the Irrigation at Your Farm 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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How much easier would our lives be if, like our bodies, our possessions could regenerate their own material to fix any damages they sustained? Well, thanks to some very clever folks in England, concrete could be made self-regenerating by the addition of a simple enzyme found in our blood—repairing cracks in the sidewalk, roads, or The post This Self-Healing Cement Automatically Fills Any Cracks That Form, To Save Energy and Money appeared first on Good News Network.
An eco-warrior has made an impressive amount of money by making toys, keyrings, mosquito repellents, and organic compost from old cigarette butts. 26-year-old Naman Gupta was inspired when he saw a huge pile of cigarettes left after a party, and wondered how many were dumped across the world on a daily basis. So now he The post Eco-Warrior Makes Toys, Mosquito Repellent, and More With Recycled Cigarette Butts – The Most Littered Item appeared first on Good News Network.
Growing across much of Asia, it’s known by many names: including Indian Beech, pongamia, Karum tree, kranji, and malapari. Pongamia pinnata is a member of the pea family that is being considered by Indonesian forestry experts for potential landscape restoration and the future of bioenergy. A number of big challenges are bearing down on the Indonesian The post This Single Tree Could Restore Degraded Land, Create a Biofuel Revolution, Power Cars, and Feed Families 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.
The kitchen is one of the busiest rooms in a house, and its activities can match a manufacturing process. In such a progression of activities, it is difficult to avoid waste. However, it is possible to devise ways of handling The post How to Be More Sustainable in the Kitchen appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Humanity has greatly affected the environment since ancient times and continues to do so. Have you ever thought about how I can prevent the effects of global warming, which we feel the effect of today? So let’s take a look The post Is It Possible To Prevent Global Warming? appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Image Source America is running out of fresh water. Population growth is increasing demand for water consumption, putting severe strain on the country’s water resources. Scientists predict that within the next 50 years, many regions of the United States will The post How to Improve the Irrigation at Your Farm appeared first on The Environmental Blog.