From: Issue 32 Categories: environment
Waste Not, Want Not
Is e-waste recycling failing to curb the problem?
Guiyu, China is the biggest e-waste dumpsite in the world and one of the landscapes that starred in Ed Burtynsky’s documentary Manufactured Landscapes. According to the Basel Action Network (BAN) and the Electronics Takeback Coalition, 82 per cent of small children in Guiyu have tested positive for clinical lead poisoning, which can result in damage to the brain, nerves, and other body parts.
Otherwise known as waste from electrical and electronic equipment, e-waste contains hazardous materials and heavy metals such as fire retardants, polychlorinated biphenyl, lead, mercury, cadmium, and the list goes on. Often the waste is shipped overseas to undeveloped countries where the toxins inside pollute the people, and the environment.
BAN first brought e-waste to the world’s attention in a 2002 report titled Exporting Harm: The High-tech Trashing of Asia, where it asserted an estimated 80 per cent of all e-waste collected in North America for recycling is shipped offshore and 90 per cent of that goes to China.
China is not alone. Ghana and Nigeria have become e-waste dumpsites as well.
Despite the establishment of e-waste recycling programs and landfill bans across North America, the amount of e-waste shipped overseas remains “about the same,” says Jim Puckett, founder of BAN and a toxics policy advocate.
The Environment Protection Agency estimates the U.S. generated over 3 million tones of e-waste in 2007, but only 13.6 per cent of that was collected for recycling.
The lack of harmonized legislation has allowed many unregulated or “grey” recyclers to profit from this relatively new industry and Canada is not exempt.
“If you asked Environment Canada how much is going out through the ports illegally in containers they don’t know,” says Frances Edmonds, Director of Environmental Programs for Hewlett-Packard Canada.
Environment Minister Jim Prentice made no comment in reply.
Global Electric Electronic Processing (GEEP) is one of Canada’s largest e-waste processors and with facilities in Europe and the U.S., GEEP Vice President Wallace MacKay notes they are constantly being audited. “You have to prove that you’re doing it the right way or you’re going to get all kinds of charlatans out there shoveling this stuff into a sea container and shipping it off to China. And believe me it’s happening,” says MacKay.
Despite tighter Canadian regulations, there are a number of grey recyclers that continue to ship to developing countries.
