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The Scientific American and informative and well research article on the dumpings grounds of the world’s Electronic Waste has. In the video below the publication shows how M.I.T. researchers tracked e-waste on its travels across the U.S. as well as using special programs to track the destination of refurbished laptops.
Tracking electronic waste is one thing, however, understanding and getting to grips with the extent to which such E-waste could be harmful is another. As was put by David Lee a programmer for the MIT Project “We can now judge for ourselves if our donated computers really find a new home, or if our e-waste is proving harmful.”
Here is an excerpt of the American Scientific article:
In fact, e-waste is one of the fastest growing sources of toxic pollution here in Africa and other parts of the world. Ghana, for example, receives shipments of old electronics under the guise of “donations” that are then dumped in massive yards in the slums of Agbogbloshie in the capital city, Accra. The Ghanian government reports that in 2009 alone, 215,000 metric tons of electronics were imported from the E.U. and U.S., 15 percent of which immediately became trash (unlike my rented cellphone) in places like Agbogbloshie.
There workers, including children, extract the precious metals such as copper inside, by hand or by burning the surrounding plastics. Recycling 100,000 cellphones could yield more than $250,000 worth of precious metals—as well as leading to heavy metal poisoning and toxic air pollution, according to United Nations University research. A recent soil sampling at local schools and the produce market in Agbogbloshie found chromium levels more than two times higher than international safety standards and lead levels 12 times higher. Those problems aren’t confined to Ghana either—chemicals used in electronics are routinely found in American blood and urine samples by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, thanks to electronics dumped here. Plus, due to such imports, the U.S. State Department ranks Ghana as one of the top sources of cybercrime, thanks to the personal information often lingering on trashed electronics. More here.
Photo: ScarlettLion
