An export policy that does not compute

Stat house
July 2002

An export policy that does not compute
A small Asian child sits atop a massive pile of garbage. It is perhaps a typical photograph, similar to those found in many brochures soliciting donations for relief efforts in the developing world. But a closer look reveals this is no typical third world garbage heap. It is in fact a pile of computer parts, printers, electrical cords and wire boards.

These electronic devices were not used in the developing world, they were merely dumped there. And according to data compiled by a coalition of environmental groups, it is likely that most of this electronic trash is still in good working order—it's just out-of-date.

Exporting Harm, a recent report released by the environmental coalition which includes the Basel Action Network, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, and Waste Not Asia, says that electronic waste, or e-waste, "is the most rapidly growing waste problem in the world."

It blames the United States and other developed nations who consume electronic products for shirking responsibility for disposal of the waste by exporting trash to the developing countries of Asia. U.S. laws do not require electronics manufactures to manage "end of life" disposal issues, despite the toxic quality and environmental hazard of many of the products.

Worse in the eyes of the environmental groups is that many companies advertise "recycling" for electronic products, promising consumers that their waste is being disposed of cleanly and ethically. But many of these companies simply export the trash to dumps in Asia.

The report notes that "market forces, if left unregulated, dictate that toxic waste will always run 'downhill' on an economic path of least resistance." In response to this problem, an international treaty known as the Basel Convention was signed in 1989 banning the export of hazardous waste to developing nations and requiring all countries to handle their own trash to the greatest extent possible. The U.S. never signed the Basel Convention. It is the only developed nation not to. The report also charges that U.S. policy makers have deliberately excluded e-wastes from existing laws regulating trash disposal export.

Another problem highlighted in the report is that technology manufacturers continue to use toxic chemicals in production. This creates a problem for disposal even in the most conscientious environment, risking pollution through the residues left behind by such products. The pollution, then, is only multiplied in unregulated export to developing nations where the trash is dumped in concentrated lots. A field investigation conducted by the coalition in China, India, and Pakistan showed "extremely hazardous and dangerous e-waste 'recycling' operations that pollute the air, water, and soil of Asian countries."

According to the report there are very few moral, sustainable choices for disposal of e-waste. It adds the source of the problem can best be remedied at the point of design and manufacture. But, the report says, "As long as manufacturers can evade the ultimate costs of their hazardous products via export to Asia, they can delay aggressively deploying their ingenuity to make sure their products are less toxic and burdensome to the planet."

FYI:

More than 50 percent of discarded computers are in good working order, but are nonetheless discarded to make way for new technology.

By the year 2005, one computer will become obsolete for every new one produced.

In California alone, over $1.2 billion will be spent on e-waste disposal over the next five years.

In 1998, it was estimated that 20 million computers became obsolete in the U.S. Overall e-waste volume was 5 to 7 million tons.

European studies indicate the growth rate of e-waste at 3 to 5 percent a year.

Millions of pounds of electronic waste from obsolete computers and TVs are being generated in the U.S. each year and an estimated 50 to 80 percent collected for recycling is being exported. This export is due to cheaper labor, lack of environmental standards in Asia, and because such export is still legal in the United States.

The e-waste recycling and disposal operations found in China, India, and Pakistan are extremely polluting and likely to be very damaging to human health. Examples include open burning of plastic waste, exposure to toxic solders, river dumping of acids, and widespread general dumping.

—Tara Dix

For more information:
Clean Computers Campaign
Electronics Take It Back! Campaign
Toxic Links India

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