Today I was reading "What’s the Truth Behind the Global eWaste Trade?" on the NerdGirls blog page and had to close my eyes in memory.... I've read the articles and seen the pictures. It makes me never want to buy new electronics (and trash ewaste) again.
In November I returned to the US after 10 days in southeast China where I was helping an industrialized city improve local water quality of a metals contaminated river. The city itself was like any modern western city. If you removed the people, the street signs and the cars/trucks/motorcycles/bikes... you could be anywhere in the world.... but if you crossed the big river into the industrial zone, you'd know you were not in a developed nation. The river I was working to help clean up was like a kid's paint set, a pallet of black, brown, white, and gold. The river banks were green with algae, small home farms and rapidly growing grasses. Yes, it was alive - I can attest to at killing at least four mosquitos as they targeted the exposed skin of my neck. Fireworks shot into the air, from a plant on the south band, on the hour, every hour... daily. It was an alien place - a river like nothing I've ever seen.
Those 10 days in China made me so grateful I was born in California in the late twentith century.
The government provided a daily news paper translated into English, which highlighted ongoing government reformed, especially related to environmental and economic policy. Since it was a government supported paper, I was surprised by some of the articles... but I came to recognize the story being told. We care about our people. We are making things better. Bigger and Better. We are advancing far and doing great!
But the starting point is ... low. There were undercover photos of the home electronic cookshops in Guiyu. Spaces smaller than most freshman college dorms would house a family of 4 - 6 and in the back room, in a poorly ventelated space, you could see women sitting over open stoves, cooking down circut boards or acid washing harddrives. The health effects described cancer, tumors, coughing up blood, permanently open wounds... A story of families moving to Guiyu to make a better living... earning money but then falling sick and becoming stuck. Jim Puckett, the executive director of the Basel Action Network, about 80% of the recycled ewater is sent overseas for processing. Sometimes the facilities are safe and workers are well paid. Many times, home cookshops are the reality.
China has an economic model where it makes sense to push green development, sustainable products, green jobs. It is a huge market industry. There are definite societal benefits. And it will take a big shift. Let's push a little harder, with our pocket books and actions.
* Minimize unnecessary purchases.
* Donate ewaste to refurbishers not recyclers.
* If refurbishment is not an option, choose a reputable recycler that uses mechanical shredding and a high-tech separation device to take out the usable metals, which can then be sent to a smelter. Check out example smelters at: http://www.ilsr.org/pubs/plug-into-electronics-reuse.pdf
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