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E-Waste:
Greenpeace Releases New Report on E-waste Disposal in China and India
By GREENPEACE Staff Writer
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Beijing, China — Greenpeace International released a report of its’ scientific investigations into the hazardous chemicals found in the scrap yards where electronic waste is recycled in China and India. The results from analyzing the dust from workshops, as well as wastewater, soil and sediment from local rivers show conclusively that all stages in processing the e-waste enable toxic chemicals, including heavy metals, to be released into the workplace and into the surrounding environment.
“The report provides a compelling case for immediate action in both countries to address workplace health and safety issues, as well as waste management practices,” said Dr. Kevin Brigden, a Greenpeace International scientist, who collected the samples. “The data reinforces the need for the electronics industry to eliminate the use of harmful substances in their products at the design stage and take responsibility for their products at the end of their lifecycle.”
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The release of the report, “Toxic Tech: Recycling of electronic wastes in China and India: workplace and environmental contamination", comes a few days after the European Directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronics Equipment (WEEE) came into effect on 13th August (1). The directive, which regulates the handling of e-waste in the EU region by making electronics producers responsible, has yet to be implemented in many EU countries. Despite an EU ban on exports of hazardous waste, including e-waste, to developing countries, there is increasing evidence of e-waste being sent to Asia from Europe illegally (2). The majority of the waste being exported to Asia comes from the United States (3).
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A worker in a electronic waste (e-waste) recycling yard in Delhi. Greenpeace releases a report of its scientific investigations into the hazardous chemicals found in the scrap yards where electronic waste is recycled in China and India.
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Concentrations of lead in dust samples collected from some workshops in China were hundreds of times higher than typical levels of household dusts. The levels of lead in dust collected from similar workshops in India were approximately 5-20 times background levels (4). Contamination was not limited to the recycling yards; dust collected from the homes of two e-waste recycling workers in China had higher levels of heavy metals, particularly lead, compared to dust collected from one neighboring house with no link to e-waste recycling.
Samsung, Nokia, Sony and Sony Ericsson have made commitments to eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals such as PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in the manufacturing of their products (5). LG Electronics is the latest to join the list of companies in committing to substitute these harmful substances with safer alternatives.
“With the most recent commitment of LG, the five ‘first in class’ companies in the electronics sector with 55% share of the global mobile telephone market and Sony, which is the leader in the electronics industry, show that it is possible to make electronic equipment without the use of these hazardous substances and still remain profitable”, said Zeina Alhajj, Greenpeace International Toxics Campaigner.
Other companies like Dell, IBM/Lenovo, HP, Siemens, Acer, Toshiba, Panasonic, Fujitsu-Siemens and Apple have so far, failed to commit.
A copy of the report is available from www.greenpeace.org/toxictechreport
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Household Hazardous Waste:
New Recycling Programs for Household Batteries
by AAEP Staff Writer
Sacramento, Calif. - All household batteries are currently recognized as a hazardous waste when discarded by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Yet, among the three billion batteries sold annually in the US, less than 5 percent of rechargeable batteries and less than 1 percent of one-time use batteries are recycled, according to the US EPA. The Assembly Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials Committee is urging Californians to put a stop to this environmental destruction by supporting AB 1125 (Pavley),  which would require retailers who sell toxic household batteries to provide consumers with a no cost opportunity for take-back and recycling of used batteries.
In 2003, a waste characterization study by the California Integrated waste Management Board revealed that more than 34,000 tons of batteries were landfilled, making it one of the largest categories of household hazardous waste landfilled in California. A ‘household generator’ exemption to this ban expires on February 8, 2006.
In 1992, the State of New Jersey adopted the nation’s first retailer ‘take-back’ and recycling requirement for rechargeable batteries. In response to that legislation, the manufacturers of rechargeable batteries and many of the product makers that use them formed and financed the ‘Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation’ (RBRC), a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and facilitate a retailer-based take back and recycling system for rechargeable batteries. Today, that program boasts that retailers representing more than 30,000 locations in the US and Canada have agreed to participate taking back of these batteries. According to an RBRC press release, approximately 2300 tons of rechargeable batteries were collected for recycling through the RBRC program in 2004.
AB 1125 proposes to build on the relative success of the RBRC program by extending its focus to all toxic household batteries, and require that all retailers participate.
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