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.
An abandoned airport in Taiwan has been chosen as the stage for an exciting project in landscape architecture, blending green spaces with sensory experiences to create a refuge in one of the island’s biggest and most crowded cities. The Phase Shift Park in Taichung will include 200 different plant species, and 10,000 trees to shade
The post Abandoned Airport Turned into Sensory Experience Park Providing Green Refuge in Crowded Taiwan City appeared first on Good News Network.
The superconducting magnets which could be a key to powering an efficient nuclear fusion reactor were just turned on in the labs of an American firm. Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS_ generated an electrical field of 20 tesla—the most powerful ever created on Earth; 50,000 times-stronger than the magnetosphere—for five hours. This gave scientists at CFS
The post The Greatest Technological Hurdle to Making Nuclear Fusion Possible – the Magnet – Just Powered Up appeared first on Good News Network.
We all know that recycling is good for the planet in the long run, but now, in a more immediate way, it’s also being used to save lives as plastic waste is being transformed into PPE for workers on the frontlines of the pandemic. At Thai Taffeta, a textile factory near Bangkok, Thailand, a mountain of
The post Thailand is Making COVID-19 Protective Gear From Upcycled Bottles appeared first on Good News Network.
As someone who cares deeply about the environment, you want to do your part. To that end, you have already installed low-flow shower heads and faucets. You have already switched to LED lights. And you already have a smart thermostat.
The post Are You Ready for an Electric Car? Here’s How You Can Tell appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
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.
As we already know that during the past few decades, technology has fundamentally changed our lives and some of them have sparked intense debates about the future of these technologies by policymakers. Nowadays, energy is very essential for the quality
The post Eco-Business and Community Ethics appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
The worst thing about the challenges of climate change is the lack of understanding. Climate change is more than melting ice caps somewhere far away. It is a change that impacts your life wherever you are living. Climate change impacts
The post Is Energy-Efficient Architecture Answer to Our Climate Change Challenge appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Sustainable concepts and communities are not new concepts. In fact, in many ways, the world is just beginning to think harder and smarter about the way we live and the impact on the environment. From the cars we drive to
The post 9 Ways to Make Your Neighborhood More Sustainable 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
Earth Day Quiz
How much do you know about our planet? Test your knowledge with this challenging Earth Day quiz. Take the Quiz »
Explore More From GreenCitizen
More Inspiring Green News
Read about the latest trends in sustainability to inspire you and help you lead a greener life.
An abandoned airport in Taiwan has been chosen as the stage for an exciting project in landscape architecture, blending green spaces with sensory experiences to create a refuge in one of the island’s biggest and most crowded cities. The Phase Shift Park in Taichung will include 200 different plant species, and 10,000 trees to shade The post Abandoned Airport Turned into Sensory Experience Park Providing Green Refuge in Crowded Taiwan City appeared first on Good News Network.
The superconducting magnets which could be a key to powering an efficient nuclear fusion reactor were just turned on in the labs of an American firm. Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS_ generated an electrical field of 20 tesla—the most powerful ever created on Earth; 50,000 times-stronger than the magnetosphere—for five hours. This gave scientists at CFS The post The Greatest Technological Hurdle to Making Nuclear Fusion Possible – the Magnet – Just Powered Up appeared first on Good News Network.
We all know that recycling is good for the planet in the long run, but now, in a more immediate way, it’s also being used to save lives as plastic waste is being transformed into PPE for workers on the frontlines of the pandemic. At Thai Taffeta, a textile factory near Bangkok, Thailand, a mountain of The post Thailand is Making COVID-19 Protective Gear From Upcycled Bottles appeared first on Good News Network.
As someone who cares deeply about the environment, you want to do your part. To that end, you have already installed low-flow shower heads and faucets. You have already switched to LED lights. And you already have a smart thermostat. The post Are You Ready for an Electric Car? Here’s How You Can Tell appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
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.
As we already know that during the past few decades, technology has fundamentally changed our lives and some of them have sparked intense debates about the future of these technologies by policymakers. Nowadays, energy is very essential for the quality The post Eco-Business and Community Ethics appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
The worst thing about the challenges of climate change is the lack of understanding. Climate change is more than melting ice caps somewhere far away. It is a change that impacts your life wherever you are living. Climate change impacts The post Is Energy-Efficient Architecture Answer to Our Climate Change Challenge appeared first on The Environmental Blog.
Sustainable concepts and communities are not new concepts. In fact, in many ways, the world is just beginning to think harder and smarter about the way we live and the impact on the environment. From the cars we drive to The post 9 Ways to Make Your Neighborhood More Sustainable appeared first on The Environmental Blog.