UNEP: Hazardous e-waste mountains in developing countries will sharply rise

Bali - Sales of electronic products in countries like China and India and across continents such as Africa and Latin America are set to rise sharply in the next 10 years. And, unless action is stepped up to properly collect and recycle materials, many developing countries face the spectre of hazardous e-waste mountains with serious consequences for the environment and public health, according to UN experts in a landmark report today by UNEP.

Issued at a meeting of Basel Convention and other world chemical authorities prior to UNEP's Governing Council meeting in Bali, Indonesia, the report, "Recycling - from E-Waste to Resources," used data from eleven representative developing countries to estimate current and future e-waste generation - which includes old and dilapidated desk and laptop computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo and music devices, refrigerators, toys and televisions.

In South Africa and China for example, the report predicts that by 2020 e-waste from old computers will have jumped by 200 to 400 percent from 2007 levels, and by 500 percent in India. By that same year in China, e-waste from discarded mobile phones will be about 7 times higher than 2007 levels and, in India, 18 times higher. By 2020, e-waste from televisions will be 1.5 to 2 times higher in China and India while in India e-waste from discarded refrigerators will double or triple.

China already produces about 2.3 million tonnes (2010 estimate) domestically, second only to the United States with about 3 million tonnes. And, despite having banned e-waste imports, China remains a major e-waste dumping ground for developed countries.

Moreover, most e-waste in China is improperly handled, much of it incinerated by backyard recyclers to recover valuable metals like gold - practices that release steady plumes of far-reaching toxic pollution and yield very low metal recovery rates compared to state-of-the-art industrial facilities.

The full release can be downloaded under unep.org. http://www.unep.org/PDF/PressReleases/E-Waste_publication_screen_FINALVERSION-sml.pdf

Source: RecyclingPortal.EU. 23 February 2010

http://www.recyclingportal.eu/artikel/23696.shtml

Danmark to speed up international prohibition of toxic waste exports

Careless handling of toxic waste in poor countries is causing extensive damage to people and the environment every year. Environment minister Troels Lund Poulsen has therefore written to 21 environment ministers in developing countries around the world asking them to ratify the Basel Convention’s ban on the transportation of hazardous waste from rich countries to poor countries. The environment minister is also ready to dispatch a mobile team to help countries implement the ban.

”The illegal export of hazardous waste is a serious matter which I am looking into. Pictures of hazardous waste which has been dumped in poor countries where it constitutes serious health and environmental issues must be a thing of the past. That is why we want more countries to endorse the Basel Convention so that the export ban applies not just to the EU but also to the rest of the world,” says Mr. Lund Poulsen.

The export ban was agreed on in 1995, has been in force in EU member states since 1997, but has not yet been implemented on a worldwide basis, as too few countries have agreed to the rules. Denmark has therefore decided to speed up the process. Mr. Lund Poulsen commented on the initiative saying: "I hope that my letter to key environment ministers and our offer to send a mobile team will help the process move up a gear. Hazardous waste has to be controlled so that human health and our environment are not harmed by careless handling of, for example, toxic and chemical waste.”

There are industrial as well as developing countries on the list of countries that have not yet agreed to the ban, including, for example, a number of key countries such as the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. We therefore need international pressure to turn the agreement into a worldwide reality.

The environment minister’s letter is part of a project which comes under the remit of the Nordic Council which Denmark is coordinating. The letters have been sent to the environment ministers in the following countries: Mexico, Zambia, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iran, Malawi, Peru, Pakistan, Vietnam, Senegal, the Seychelles and Namibia.

Source: RecyclingPortal.EU (Ministry of the Environment, Denmark). 24 August 2009

http://www.recyclingportal.eu/artikel/22714.shtml