US Exports E-Waste to Poorer Countries - Essay Example

Insert [Insert Your [Insert [Insert Deadline] US Exports E-Waste To Poorer Countries The United States lags behind as far as international laws, regulations, and treaties are concerned. The milestonme Basel Convention (1989) and later UN--backed remains definitive of e-waste regulation and disposal from industriliased to devloping countries. According to Basel Convention, most industrialised nations manufacturers are required to have "take-back" programs by which e-waste (e.g. old TVs, cell phones, and computers) are disposed. The European Unions (EUs) regulations are tougher still requiring member states to, in addition to Basel Conventions disposal requirement, include costs of recycling old electronic products as part of manufacturing overall costs as well as to cut back on toxic substances used to manufacture electronic products. The United States has not ratified Basel Convention (Bennion n.d.) The Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for maintaining laws pertaining to e-waste disposal. However, according to a report (2008) commissioned by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S.s e-waste bulk ends up in China and India. Additionally, EPA has few rules and regulations controlling e-waste disposal and recycling (e.g. Cathode Ray Tubes. CRT, a high-lead content product, is banned per se for export overseas with not particular mention to other toxic substances used in electronic products). Different efforts have been made in order to fix U.S.s e-waste disposal problem, including exportation overseas. One recent example is Congressman Mike Thomsons legislation on e-waste unified standards for e-waste disposal. Loopholes, however, stand in face of Thomsons successful legislation. That is, exporting e-waste to devleloping countries as items for "repair" or "upgrading". The business driving e-waste disposal remains the same, even when exportation is shifted from one country to another (such as when Taiwan banned e-waste exports from the United States, only to switch interest to China and India): cash hungry developing countries sieze upon imports from devloped and rich countries, only to re-sell "waste" to wolr markets. By way of solution, some states, California and Maine, have imposed strict regulations on e-waste recycling. E-Stewards Certification Program, initiated by Basel Action Group, provides technology upgrade solutions. Technology companies are responding as well, providing recycling initiatives. Dell, Inc. is one clear example whose policy can be summed as: "Dell’s policy is that if the product isn’t working, they won’t export it to a developing country. Period." _________________ According to a Basel Action Network (BAN) report, trade in e-waste, especially electronic chemicals in which toxic substances are used has prospered over recent years as a result of IT boom in devleloped countries and a expanding market for elctronic products and equipments in poor and devleloping countries. The report calls for immediate disposal of toxic chemicals from electronic products manufactured by electronics companies (Weil 2005). E-wastes are problematic and a major cause for environmental as well as health hazards. Substances such as lead and tin, barium and lead in cathode-ray tubes, beryllium alloys in connectors, and mercury - are all examples of hazardous materials. In spite of recycling programs by U.S. electronics manufacturers, e-waste buisness brokers profit from a growing buisness of selling e-waste and used electronic products to poorer and developing countries, even claiming to narrow North-South Digital Divide. Some devloping nations, such as Zambia, have responded, placing environmental and health safeguards against importation of electronic equipments from developed countries, a practice Basel Convetion has much regulated, especially in Europe, and has lead, paradoxically, to a rise in e-waste trade due to stricter recycling regulations imposed in developed countries. According to BAN, the U.S. is "worst actor" among developed nations based on her record of dumping hazardous e-wastes in poor and developing countries as well as her reluctance to ratify Basels Convention signed in March 1990. By way of recommendation, BAN urges governments to pressure electronics manufacturers in order to dispose of toxic chemicals from electronic products as well as to enforce Basel Convetions regulations more strictly. On developing countries side, more help is needed to create effective, environmetally sound waste management systems. _________________ Greenpeace has called in a report, "High Tech Toxic Trash Causing Horrendous Pollution in Ghana," on major electronics manufacturers to stop exporting e-waste to developing countries with a particular focus on Ghana. According to report, e-waste trade has expanded exponentially in Asia and West Africa, Ghana in particular, where most disposed electronic products find home. More, e-waste is dismantled by children as young as 5 years old (Pitman 2008). Inspite of strict regulations on e-waste management in EU, e-waste continues to pour in from developed countries in Europe (and U.S.) into poorer countries worldwide. Essentially, e-waste is exported as "second hand" but in effect most, and in some cases all, is unusable. According to a Greenpeace investigation in two Ghanian cities, analysis of soil samples in landfills has lead to a suscpicion of reproductive system problems as well as problems in respiratory system due to inhalation of toxic fumes among landfill workers. Interestingly, where EU places strict bans on e-waste exportation similar regulations, if any, in the United States are much laxer, report says. Additionally, even though major electronics manufacturers in developed countries, especially in the U.S., such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Apple, have either created e-waste recycling programs or have expanded on existing ones, e-waste trade remains a thriving buisness. _________________ E-waste i.e. old computers, cell phones, TV sets and similar digial gadgets is becoming most rapidly growing waste category in the U.S. Indeed, e-waste involves many types and comes in different shapes. For example, Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) used in TV and computer monitots, rendering TVs and computers safer devices on use, are hazardous materials if not disposed of carefully. Computer chips and circuitry also include highly toxic substances such as gallium arsenide, cadmium, and beryllium. As practice stands in developing countries, exported e- waste is mishandled, poorly recycled, or just being cast away into landfills, leading to release of toxic substances and poisons into air and water (Wooddell 2008). The toll on health caused by exposure to e-waste is enormous. For example, lead, PVC, barium, mercury, and cadmium, among a host of toxic substances found in electronic products, cause harm to kidneys, childrens mental development (in some cases impairment), cancer, fetal damage, and brain swelling, to mention few examples. Ultimately, developing nations pay devloped nations environmental price - being an end side of e-waste presumably further processed. More, landfill workers in devloping countries pay a heavy price from their own health and lives handling disposed electronic products. Ironically, well-intentioned U.S. charities send old computers to developing countries based on assumptions to narrow North-South Digital Divide. On another postive and serious turn, some major U.S. computer manufacturers, such as Dell and Apple, have set up return or take back programs in order to manange e-waste. Cell phones, replaced at an average of two years, are another issue. Where most states do not have specific regulations on disposal of cell phones, California, for example, has made it illegal to cast off cell phones. Recycling remains one most viable, environmentally sound strategy conserving worlds finite resources, protecting climate, and reducing energy use. According to 2005 estimates, around 8,550 curbside programs were operating in communities around the United States. However, collectively, given U.S.s recycling rates compared to Europes, Europe fares much better. Thanks to stricter regulations. Interestingly, according to an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) survey, the United States is biggest waster at 740 kilograms per person per year. More, Americans seem to dispose of plastics and metals (basic component materials in e-waste) at high rates as compared to other wastes (11.8 and 7.6 respectively). Historically, recycling in the United States is a rather new practice compared to other cultures and nations. The first U.S. curbside recycling program began in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1874. The Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965 recognized that trash was a resource. One study by academic William Rathje in 1990s shows much trash does not break down in landfills - an intersting finding given claims by e-waste exporters. _________________ Every day, Americans cast off 350,000+ cell phones and130,000 computers making e-waste the United States most rapidly growing section of trash stream. Importantly, recyclers avoid environmental regulations and health precautions in the United States and export e-waste abroad, typically in developing countries, where such precautions are second to none. The U.S. Government seems disinterested to intervene. Plus, the U.S. remains one major developed country who refused to ratify Basel Convetion, an international, UN-backed treaty purpoting at regulationg e-waste exportation into developing countries (Walsh, "E-Waste Not" 2009). Environmental Protection Agenys (EPAs) enforcement of e-waste management is, moreover, according to a Government Accountability Office report, "lacking". According to GAO report, 43 U.S. recyclers ship e-waste overseas in disregard to EPA and importing nations permission. China is one big importer of e-waste with catastrophic consequences on health such as cancer and miscarriages. Basel Action Network (BAN) and other environmental agencies are pushing hard on a total ban on e-waste export alongside with legislative efforts. Electronic manufacturing companies such as Dell, Sony, and Appel each has taken serious steps already in order to ensure an effective e-waste management program is in place. For example, Apple has announced an in-store recycling program in partnership with Staples. Companies, such as Greenphone.com, and non-for-profits, such as BAN, have introduced alternatives to consumers in order to dispose of old electronic products. The first markets usuable products. The other endorses a list of U.S. recyclers as "e-stewards" at ban.org. One major concern, however, is recent decision of cable companies to stop broadcasting in analog signals and hence making traditional TVs outdated -an early warning of mass disposal in favor of digital sets. _________________ American culture appreciate latest gadgets unheeding where old stuff ends up. This very same culture encourages consumption at high levels prompting huge wastes, not least e-waste. The lifecycle of an electronic product starts in industrialised countries, shipped overseas, mostly to developing countries, where environmental, health, and safety standards and regulations are next to none. Importers of e-waste, including such hazardous substances as lead, mercury and brominated flame retardants, include Southeast Asia, China, India and Africa (Reddy 2009). All industrialised nations, excluding the United States, have signed and ratified Basel Ban, an extension of Basel Convention regulating trade in electronic waste. The Evironmental Protection Agency remains largely inefficient in imposing stricter policies on e-waste management, let alone export to foreign nations. Comparing situations in developed and developing countries speaks of where e-waste stands. In developed nations, such as the U.S., irresponsible e-waste creation and disposal can be attributed to many factors such as evolving technology, mass production, marketing efforts by manufacturers to render products "old", lack of effective e-waste policies, and high cost of e-waste disposal. On developing countries side, next-to-none standards makes importation of old electronic prodcuts from developed countries a growing business. Possible solutions for e-waste problem include stricter regulations on manufacturers manipulation and reduction of toxic substances used in manufacturing electronic products. Of course, tax incentives rings well with complying manufacturers. Educational and awareness raising programs is yet another means to address e-waste problem. Afterall, global citizenship means what happens in one distant part of the world will definitely affect our own. _________________ According to a UN estimate, the world produces 20-50 million tons a year of e-waste. Interestingly, the United States, biggest producer of e-waste, dumps her waste elsewhere, typically in poorer and devleoping countries such as China, India, and Nigeria where wrokers in landfills dismantle electronic parts, usually incliding toxic substances such as lead, cadmium, and mercury (Walsh, "Dirty Little Secret" 2008). Not only does e-waste affect quality of enivironment in cities in China, where huge landfills are found, but also poses serious health risks, not least respiratory problems, to workers as well as children. According to Michael Zhao, a journalist connected to Asia Society, I saw people putting leftover parts on coal fired stoves, to melt down the waste to get to the gold...Itd produce a reddish smoke that was so strong I couldnt standthere for more than a couple minutes before my eyes would just burn. Notwithstanding international regulations, basically, The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, actual practices run against all restrictions and precautions prescribed. This is largely due to supply and demand law which allows for money to poorer countries from industrialised nations at dire environmental and health costs. The United States remain the main culprit world over. Possible solutions may include promotion of recycling programs and reduction of toxic materials used in electronic products. The electronics industry is not a clean one, after all. Summary E-waste disposal is a serious environmental and health problem inflicted by developed countries on developing ones. Given rapidly evolving technology, triggering mass production and in turn mass disposal of electronic products, exporting old electronic products to developing coutries has grown into a profitable buisness in recent years. Notwithstanding existing international treaties and convetions, particularly UN-backed Basel Convention, developed countries continue to overlook regulations and standards set in favor of short-term gains. On another side, developing countries, well aware of involved environmental and health hazards, continue to import e-waste partly for cash, partly for reuse and /or recycling, and partly for acquiring "latest" technology at affordable prices. The United States, who refused so far to ratify Basel Convention, remains worlds biggest e-waste producer. China, India, Ghana, and Nigeria come at the receiving end. There has been efforts in the United States in order to impose stricter regulations on manufacturers of electronic products, especially given existing lax regulations overseen by Environmental Protection Agency. One such effort is a legistlation by Congressman Mike Thomson, notwithstanding criticisms. Aside from illegality of dumping e-waste on developing nations, European countries have, at least in theory, much more stricter rules and regulations on e-waste exportation comapred to the United States. A range of possible solutions has been proposed by non-for-profits, most prominently, Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based environmental group, as well as by experts in electronics manufacturing. Among solutions are suggestions to impose and enforce stricter regulations on e-waste products and to create-waste recycling programs (such as Dell and Apple did) in order to ensure a products lifecycle is managed in accordance with international environmental, health and safety standards. Finally, without a sense of global citizenship on devloped countries part and enhancement of e-waste management systems in developing countries, efforts to end a shamful business are bound to fail. Works Cited Bennion, Jackie. "Drowning in Electronics." Frontline World. PBS, n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2009. Pitman, Todd. "Greenpeace: Dont Dump E-Waste on Poor Countries." USA Today, 5 Aug. 2008. Web. 1 Oct. 2009. Reddy, Gayatri. "E-waste Problem Demands Solutions." The Baltimore Sun, 22 Sept. 2009. Web.1 Oct. 2009. Walsh, Bryan. "E-Waste Not." TIME, 1 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Oct. 2009. ---. "Your Laptops Dirty Little Secret." TIME, 30 June 2009. Web. 1 Oct. 2009. Weil, Nancy. "E-Waste Dumping Victimizes Developing Nations, Study Says." PC World, 31 Oct. 2008. Web. 1 Oct. 2009. Wooddell, David. "E-Waste." Geopedia. National Geographic, 11 Feb. 2008. Web. 1 Oct. 2009. Read More