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The Electronics TakeBack Coalition, which promotes responsible e-recycling, says 50 to 80 percent of electronics recycled in the United States are shipped overseas. Barbara Kyle, the TakeBack Coalition's executive director, estimates that much of this is sent to developing countries. Asian countries like China and Vietnam as well as African countries like Ghana and Nigeria receive the bulk of the waste, Kyle said.
Developing nations like these have few or no regulations, Kyle said, and as a result, a whole industry based on crude, unsafe methods to extract the minerals exists. Many contain toxic materials that harm surrounding environments and populations, Kyle said.
"If they can pull the metals out by bashing and burning, that's what they do," Kyle said. "These are people working for a few dollars a day and don't get health safety."
Perhaps the biggest problem about this is that most of the exporting is legal in the United States. The only regulation that Kyle could point to is an EPA rule requiring exporters to notify the agency before sending out cathode ray tubes, such as the ones contained in many older television sets.
If the exporter claims that the tubes are for reuse, then it just needs to give EPA a one-time notice, regardless of the laws of the country they're being shipped to, Kyle said. There's also no limit to how much e-waste an exporter can ship overseas.
John Shegerian is chairman and CEO of Electronic Recyclers International, one of the world's largest electronic waste recyclers. Shegerian attributes the problem to a culture within the industry that's pressured to find the cheapest recycling options. "What you've got is well-meaning people choosing the lowest-costing scenario," Shegerian said. "This goes for corporations as well as the federal government."
His mantra is that responsible recycling isn't cheap.
The TakeBack Coalition and many others, including major companies like Dell and Samsung, are backing legislation that would ban shipping e-waste to Third World countries. In September, Reps. Gene Green (D-Texas) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) introduced the "Responsible Electronics Recycling Act," which would have made such practices illegal. Because it was introduced late in the session, the bill didn't get any hearings and quickly died. It will likely be reintroduced this session, Kyle said.
In the meantime, e-recyclers can volunteer for certifications like e-Stewards, a program developed to prevent misuse of toxics in the electronics, especially in Third World countries. More than 50 recyclers are certified or in the process of doing so.
Article Courtesy of: JOEY PETERS of ClimateWire
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