Today being world Earth Day, its only fit we discuss the next big environmental crisis to hit Asia - e-waste or electronic waste. With consumerism on the rise, the rate at which we buy and dispose off mobile phones, Tv’s, laptops, PC’s, refrigerators etc is only making the problem of e-waste worse for Asia.

The star.com reported that despite international agreements that prohibit the import and export of hazardous waste, shipments of broken electronic devices continue to pour into the harbours of Kenya, India and China.The reason is strictly financial. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates it’s up to 10 times cheaper to export e-waste than to dispose of it domestically.

About 150,000 people are employed by the e-waste industry in Guiyu, China, and 25,000 more work in the scrapyards of New Delhi, India. The gold, silver, copper, aluminum and other metals salvaged become a vital resource for the manufacturing of new items. A typical wage for the arduous, dangerous work is $2 to $4 a day.

Mercury, barium, lead and cadmium are just a few of the dangerous elements that can be found in discarded devices. Many more toxic materials are used in the salvaging process that recovers the gold, silver, copper and other valuable metals found in computers, cellphones and TVs.

Acid baths and open fires are typical of the inefficient and dangerous methods used in the recovery of these precious metals. Toxic fumes and acid spillage contribute to an unsafe working environment. The hazardous elements accumulate in landfills and can leech into the groundwater, leaving it undrinkable.

Despite their efforts to stop the flow of e-waste into developing nations, executive director Ruediger Kuehr can understand why China continues to accept shipments. “China, like India and many other countries, is really hungry for resources, so they let e-waste into their country to support their production chain,” he says. “They have many people making their living off of e-waste, so they cannot easily say, `Let’s stop all of these imports.’”

Consumer awareness on the issue of e-waste is still low, but on the rise. People have begun to demand “greener” technology, and companies are starting to listen.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under China, India, Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.