5.5. E-waste stream management

PRESENTER: --decisions. What computer should we buy? And probably even more challenging-- what should we do with the old ones? When it comes to disposal, a lot is at stake. Despite recent improvements, electronics are still made with toxic materials. For example, monitor glass and circuit boards contain large quantities of lead, which cause birth defects, nervous system disorders, and brain dysfunction, especially in children. Other very-toxic metals, such as mercury, beryllium, and cadmium, are found in the equipment as well. The plastics also are a problem, as they contain highly-polluting flame retardants. Apart from the environmental and health impacts, there are other risks. Unless we take great care to totally erase our very-confidential data stored in our computers, digital assistants, and cell phones, our privacy is at risk. Businesses become vulnerable to the loss of intellectual property or confidential customer data, which can lead to criminal and civil liabilities that can cost millions. Most individuals and companies want to dispose of their e-waste responsibly, so they seek out an electronics recycler or asset recovery company. Unfortunately, all too often these e-waste recyclers are not recyclers at all. SARAH WESTERVELT: We've all seen these claims of electronics recyclers and asset recovery companies who will tell you they are diverting this equipment from landfills, they're in compliance with all regulations, and they are using environmentally sound recycling. But the fact is that US and Canadian regulations do not adequately cover this toxic waste stream. So we have plenty of companies who are simply loading up seagoing containers and sell it to the highest bidder, frequently to countries in Africa and Asia. So they're getting rich at the expense of your goodwill, and your data security, and ultimately human health and the environment. PRESENTER: Few had witnessed the cyber age nightmare in China until the Basel Action Network-- BAN-- had set an investigative team to Guangdong Province in 2001. Since it began receiving its first load of imported e-waste about 12 years ago, the Chinese township area of Guiyu has been transformed from a small rice-growing village into a bustling, sprawling junkyard for much of the world's electronic waste. BAN revisited the scene again in 2008, only to find that things had gotten far worse. In the Guiyu area, one can find whole villages of migrant workers from China's rural regions living among the piles of e-waste. They sort computer components and openly burn them in fields or large indoor fireplaces, releasing toxic smoke and ash. Toner powder is inhaled as it's swept by hand from cracked, discarded printer cartridges. Thousands of people are employed cooking circuit boards over coal-fired burners, breathing in the lead tin solder vapors for hours on end as they pluck the chips off the boards. The chips are then taken in buckets to primitive acid stripping operations along the riverways where hot acid baths are used to extract tiny fractions of gold while workers breathe the toxic fumes and flush residues right into the river. Computer monitors are cracked open, and leaded glass is dumped into old irrigation ditches. All of the well water in Guiyu is now contaminated. Samples taken by BAN in the local river revealed levels of lead 2,400 times the World Health Organization's threshold level for drinking water. And since BAN's first visit, scientists have conducted further analyses of human hair, water, sediments, and rice, and have recorded some of the highest levels of dioxins, brominated flame retardants, heavy metals, and other pollutants ever discovered anywhere on earth. BAN's next investigative assignment took them to Lagos, Nigeria, a sprawling metropolis and port for much of West Africa. Computers and other IT equipment increasingly arrive on African shores from Europe and America, ostensibly to be sold in the marketplace to be re-used. Exporters can claim that this practice extends the lives of computers, helps the poor, and allows them to bridge the digital divide. Unfortunately, the vast majority of computers, televisions, monitors, and printers that arrive in Lagos each month were found to be nonfunctional and non-repairable. They end up stacked in cavernous warehouses, or more often dumped near residential areas and burned, releasing persistent highly-toxic pollutants into the air and water. JOHN OBORO: I would tell you that we have greater percentage of those that cannot be used than those that can be used. Honestly speaking, I would say 75% of these items are not usable. OLADELE OSIBANJO: The gases are very hazardous. There are no shields. They contain toxic components. They are quite carcinogenic substances. And the incidence of such terrible diseases like cancer is very high now in Nigeria. Hazardous waste should not go from developed to developing. So the exporting country must put in strict controls and follow their own regulatory regime. If we are talking of a global village, a common future, a common destiny for all the peoples of the world, it is only fair-- morally right-- to be sure that all sides are safe at the end of the day. PRESENTER: It's not difficult to learn the identities of those that are careless about the eventual impact of their techno trash. Brand names and institutional asset tags sometimes remain on the equipment. But even when tags have been peeled off, it can be shocking to find what is hidden below the surface. As part of its investigation into the origins of e-waste found in Nigeria, BAN purchased secondhand hard drives in the market and sent them to a cyber investigative service located in Zurich, Switzerland. GUIDO RUDOLPHI: It's child's play to recover them. And so after only a little bit of time that you have to invest, you can find a lot-- a tremendous lot of data on those files from the former users. For the companies it's very risky. They cannot track back what they are distributing all over the world. You find confidential material on those hard drives, calculations, CVs from employees, private mail-- so, a lot of stuff that really, really shouldn't get out of their hands. PRESENTER: The trade in toxic wastes leaves the poor people of the world with an untenable choice between poverty and poison, a choice that nobody should have to make. In 1989, the global community came together in Basel, Switzerland to sign an international treaty designed to stop the international dumping of toxic waste. And in 1995, the Basel Convention passed a full ban on the export of hazardous wastes, including electronic waste from developed countries to developing countries. All 27 European countries have already made it illegal to ship toxic waste to developing countries for any reason. But to date, the US is the only developed country in the world that has not ratified the Basel Convention. And in fact, the United States and Canada continue to actively work to undermine the waste export ban. Meanwhile, unscrupulous recyclers have taken advantage of the uneven playing field and freely export massive volumes of electronic waste each year while their governments look the other way. It was for this reason that BAN together with the Electronics TakeBack Coalition created the e-Stewards initiative. SARAH WESTERVELT: The federal government has been horribly negligent by failing to control toxic waste exports to developing countries. So we've had to turn to the best players in the industry who are willing to go well beyond compliance. e-Stewards are North American recyclers and asset recovery companies who have agreed to the highest level of responsible recycling and reuse. PRESENTER: One of these companies is Redemtech, based in Columbus, Ohio. ROBERT HOUGHTON: We've built our business around doing the right thing socially and environmentally. Since we need to operate safe and secure facilities, pay our associates a living wage, we've invested in technology to ensure that every bit of customer data is reliably eradicated and that every pound of e-waste is properly recycled. I'm encouraged that when people learn about the toxic trade in scrap electronics they want to work with responsible recyclers. But it's not easy telling the good from the bad. e-Stewards are willing and able to prove that they're operating responsibly. And people that care must insist on that accounting. PRESENTER: Now, thanks to the e-Stewards Initiative, finding a globally-responsible electronics recycling or asset recovery company is easy. The next task is to enlist all consumers, large and small, to do the right thing and agree to make exclusive use of these leaders and avoid the laggards in the industry. The real answer surely lies not in passing our electronic waste to those least able to deal with it, but in responsibly refurbishing or recycling it here at home.

PRESENTER: --decisions. What computer should we buy? And probably even more challenging-- what should we do with the old ones?

When it comes to disposal, a lot is at stake. Despite recent improvements, electronics are still made with toxic materials. For example, monitor glass and circuit boards contain large quantities of lead, which cause birth defects, nervous system disorders, and brain dysfunction, especially in children. Other very-toxic metals, such as mercury, beryllium, and cadmium, are found in the equipment as well. The plastics also are a problem, as they contain highly-polluting flame retardants.

Apart from the environmental and health impacts, there are other risks. Unless we take great care to totally erase our very-confidential data stored in our computers, digital assistants, and cell phones, our privacy is at risk. Businesses become vulnerable to the loss of intellectual property or confidential customer data, which can lead to criminal and civil liabilities that can cost millions.

Most individuals and companies want to dispose of their e-waste responsibly, so they seek out an electronics recycler or asset recovery company. Unfortunately, all too often these e-waste recyclers are not recyclers at all.

SARAH WESTERVELT: We've all seen these claims of electronics recyclers and asset recovery companies who will tell you they are diverting this equipment from landfills, they're in compliance with all regulations, and they are using environmentally sound recycling. But the fact is that US and Canadian regulations do not adequately cover this toxic waste stream. So we have plenty of companies who are simply loading up seagoing containers and sell it to the highest bidder, frequently to countries in Africa and Asia. So they're getting rich at the expense of your goodwill, and your data security, and ultimately human health and the environment.

PRESENTER: Few had witnessed the cyber age nightmare in China until the Basel Action Network-- BAN-- had set an investigative team to Guangdong Province in 2001. Since it began receiving its first load of imported e-waste about 12 years ago, the Chinese township area of Guiyu has been transformed from a small rice-growing village into a bustling, sprawling junkyard for much of the world's electronic waste. BAN revisited the scene again in 2008, only to find that things had gotten far worse.

In the Guiyu area, one can find whole villages of migrant workers from China's rural regions living among the piles of e-waste. They sort computer components and openly burn them in fields or large indoor fireplaces, releasing toxic smoke and ash. Toner powder is inhaled as it's swept by hand from cracked, discarded printer cartridges. Thousands of people are employed cooking circuit boards over coal-fired burners, breathing in the lead tin solder vapors for hours on end as they pluck the chips off the boards.

The chips are then taken in buckets to primitive acid stripping operations along the riverways where hot acid baths are used to extract tiny fractions of gold while workers breathe the toxic fumes and flush residues right into the river. Computer monitors are cracked open, and leaded glass is dumped into old irrigation ditches.

All of the well water in Guiyu is now contaminated. Samples taken by BAN in the local river revealed levels of lead 2,400 times the World Health Organization's threshold level for drinking water. And since BAN's first visit, scientists have conducted further analyses of human hair, water, sediments, and rice, and have recorded some of the highest levels of dioxins, brominated flame retardants, heavy metals, and other pollutants ever discovered anywhere on earth.

BAN's next investigative assignment took them to Lagos, Nigeria, a sprawling metropolis and port for much of West Africa. Computers and other IT equipment increasingly arrive on African shores from Europe and America, ostensibly to be sold in the marketplace to be re-used. Exporters can claim that this practice extends the lives of computers, helps the poor, and allows them to bridge the digital divide.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of computers, televisions, monitors, and printers that arrive in Lagos each month were found to be nonfunctional and non-repairable. They end up stacked in cavernous warehouses, or more often dumped near residential areas and burned, releasing persistent highly-toxic pollutants into the air and water.

JOHN OBORO: I would tell you that we have greater percentage of those that cannot be used than those that can be used. Honestly speaking, I would say 75% of these items are not usable.

OLADELE OSIBANJO: The gases are very hazardous. There are no shields. They contain toxic components. They are quite carcinogenic substances. And the incidence of such terrible diseases like cancer is very high now in Nigeria. Hazardous waste should not go from developed to developing. So the exporting country must put in strict controls and follow their own regulatory regime. If we are talking of a global village, a common future, a common destiny for all the peoples of the world, it is only fair-- morally right-- to be sure that all sides are safe at the end of the day.

PRESENTER: It's not difficult to learn the identities of those that are careless about the eventual impact of their techno trash. Brand names and institutional asset tags sometimes remain on the equipment. But even when tags have been peeled off, it can be shocking to find what is hidden below the surface. As part of its investigation into the origins of e-waste found in Nigeria, BAN purchased secondhand hard drives in the market and sent them to a cyber investigative service located in Zurich, Switzerland.

GUIDO RUDOLPHI: It's child's play to recover them. And so after only a little bit of time that you have to invest, you can find a lot-- a tremendous lot of data on those files from the former users. For the companies it's very risky. They cannot track back what they are distributing all over the world. You find confidential material on those hard drives, calculations, CVs from employees, private mail-- so, a lot of stuff that really, really shouldn't get out of their hands.

PRESENTER: The trade in toxic wastes leaves the poor people of the world with an untenable choice between poverty and poison, a choice that nobody should have to make. In 1989, the global community came together in Basel, Switzerland to sign an international treaty designed to stop the international dumping of toxic waste. And in 1995, the Basel Convention passed a full ban on the export of hazardous wastes, including electronic waste from developed countries to developing countries. All 27 European countries have already made it illegal to ship toxic waste to developing countries for any reason. But to date, the US is the only developed country in the world that has not ratified the Basel Convention. And in fact, the United States and Canada continue to actively work to undermine the waste export ban. Meanwhile, unscrupulous recyclers have taken advantage of the uneven playing field and freely export massive volumes of electronic waste each year while their governments look the other way. It was for this reason that BAN together with the Electronics TakeBack Coalition created the e-Stewards initiative.

SARAH WESTERVELT: The federal government has been horribly negligent by failing to control toxic waste exports to developing countries. So we've had to turn to the best players in the industry who are willing to go well beyond compliance. e-Stewards are North American recyclers and asset recovery companies who have agreed to the highest level of responsible recycling and reuse.

PRESENTER: One of these companies is Redemtech, based in Columbus, Ohio.

ROBERT HOUGHTON: We've built our business around doing the right thing socially and environmentally. Since we need to operate safe and secure facilities, pay our associates a living wage, we've invested in technology to ensure that every bit of customer data is reliably eradicated and that every pound of e-waste is properly recycled. I'm encouraged that when people learn about the toxic trade in scrap electronics they want to work with responsible recyclers. But it's not easy telling the good from the bad. e-Stewards are willing and able to prove that they're operating responsibly. And people that care must insist on that accounting.

PRESENTER: Now, thanks to the e-Stewards Initiative, finding a globally-responsible electronics recycling or asset recovery company is easy. The next task is to enlist all consumers, large and small, to do the right thing and agree to make exclusive use of these leaders and avoid the laggards in the industry. The real answer surely lies not in passing our electronic waste to those least able to deal with it, but in responsibly refurbishing or recycling it here at home. /p>