Toxic Tech: Not in our Backyard
| Publication Type | | Report |
| Year of Publication | | 2008 |
| Authors | | Cobbing, M. |
| Prepared for | | Greenpeace |
| Pages | | 76 |
| Institution | | Greenpeace International |
| Abstract | | A dangerous new waste stream is rapidly emerging.
Greenpeace has commissioned the report, Toxic Tech: Not in Our Backyard, to investigate the global sales of electrical and electronic products and assess the amount of waste arising from this. The UN estimates that some 20 to 50m tonnes of e-waste are generated worldwide each year, comprising more than 5% of all
municipal solid waste. The fate of large quantities of this so-called e-waste is unknown. This “hidden flow” is the e-waste that escapes responsible collection, reuse and recycling systems and as such is
unaccounted for. While some might be found stored in attics or garages or disposed
of with mixed waste in landfills and incinerators, thousands more electrical and electronic products that have reached the end of their lives are exported, often illegally, for dumping in Africa or for
rudimentary recovery by Asian informal recyclers. There, workers at scrap yards - some of whom are children – are exposed to a cocktail of toxic chemicals when the products are broken apart,
and as water, air and soil are polluted.
The quantities of e-waste generated are predicted to grow substantially in the future, both in industrialised countries and in developing countries, which are expected to triple their e-waste by
2010. The rich countries often legally or illegally divert this problem from their own backyards. The hidden flow of e-waste that results causes environmental damage in the backyards and scrapyards of
poorer countries.
Ultimately, the principle of producer responsibility, which requires producers to take financial and/or management responsibility for their products when they reach the end-of-life phase, needs to be at the core of any measures to address the e-waste problem. The escalating e-waste problem makes it imperative to also address the source, the design of electrical and electronic products. |
| URL | | http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/not-in-our-backyard.pdf |
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