LIFE OF ELECTRONIC WASTE

GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE

Dan Harris and Mara Chen Dept. Of Geography and GeosciencesSalisbury UniversityECLIPSE, March 9th, 2013

E-Waste• Industrial Waste• Electronic Waste – Info/electronic revolution

• “Information Economy”• High-tech electronics: Cell phones, laptops, desktops, TVs, iPods, etc...• Nasty components!

• Heavy metals: mercury, lead, arsenic, beryllium, brominated flame retardant, Hazardous: combustion– dioxins– toxic gases fro inhalation and deposition

• Health Impacts – cancer, reproductive disorders, endocrine disruption

• Environmental non-governmental organization (ENGOS)• 50-80% exported overseas – Processed by hand in Asia and Africa

Lead most common leachate – primarily from mother board printed wires30 to 100 times regulatory level (mg/L) – 5 mg/L - hazardous

E-Waste -- Production• Other Environmental impact

• Materials and Energy intensive• Semiconductor – 600 times its weight in fossil fuels, chemicals and

secondary inputs• Automobile production – “only twice”

• IT production – 2% of global CO2 (equivalent to airline industry)

What to Do with E-Waste?UN Basel Convention: 1992• 170 signatory countries

• Problems/Loopholes• definitions of hazardous waste

• Contradiction between individual nations

• Allowed for bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements between signatory nations if “environmentally sound” or equivalent• Fuzzy definition…

• Trans-boundary movements legal if material re-used or recycled

• Remains “highly ambiguous” • Flexible interpretations

• US only OECD not to ratify treaty• Organization for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD)

Environmental Justice: Pollution Haven Hypothesis• Pollution intensive economic activity tends to migrate to

jurisdictions where environmental regulation is lowest• Desperate for wealth - Compete for waste/resource!

• Poorer countries disproportionately affected• Toxic Traders – 1980s – Eastern Europe and developing world

• Ex. 1986 Khian Sea – Norwegian ship registered to Liberia• Dumped thousands of tons of incinerator ash on Haitian Beach• Spent two years trying to find port for remaining toxic waste• Suspected to have dumped it in Indian Ocean

• Nigeria – Italy shipped (PCBs) polychlorinated biphenyls to farmer and paid to store• Ruptured and contaminated fields and village

• Guiya, China – airborne hydrocarbons and heavy metals• 100 to 600 times higher than other Asian cities

• Link pregnancy to neurological impairment development• PCBs in human breast milk• Inhalation and fish consumption

Geographies of E-waste• Data – fast evolving, hard to track, incomplete at best• Greenpeace, Basel Action Network (BAN), Toxic Links

India• Trace North American and European waste to India, China and Nigeria

• Visual documentation, water and soil analysis, asset tag evidence, forensic data from hard drives

• Documented health problems• Silicosis, dioxins, mercury, lead• Carcinogen inhalation• Pollute local drinking water and food supply

• Ex. China and India – heavy metals and chemicals

• Lead, copper, tin, antimony, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, PCBs

• 100s of times background

Geographies of E-Waste• Spatial Patterns in China – port & production regions

• Pearl River Delta, Shanghai and Beijing• Importer concentration as well as production centers

• Global patterns• Mimic most commodities

• Europe, Americas and Asia are largest trading areas• Internally focused

• Africa, the Caribbean, Middle East, and Oceania• Externally focused• Shifting – 10% internal in Caribbean, 20% in Middle East, 60% in Oceania

• Likely increased usuage of technology

• Basel Convention – does not limit trade between developing nations

2001 Flows Lepawsky and McNabb

2006 Flows Lepawsky and McNabb

E-Waste Geographic Patterns• Not as simple as rich to poor – no differentiation in

classification• Africa’s trade – exports to Korea and Spain• Caribbean – Americas primarily Venezuela• Middle East – export to Korea, Indonesia, Philippines

• Dynamics – 2006 data• Asia recipient from all regions of the world• 96% of exports from Americas• 99% of exports from Europe• 98% of exports from Middle East• 99% of exports from Oceania

• Waste in one region, resource in another• Leaded children’s jewelry and toys!

E-Waste Recycling• Very small percentage

• US estimate 11-14%• The rest...dumed or burned

• Formal or informal landfills or incinerators

• 70 – 80% of e-waste from recyclers exported• Less stringent environmental laws

• Roadside burning or acid baths or simply dumped• Extract precious metal

• Send to US prisons????? Find citation…..• Confidential data

• Hard drives and cell phones contain private data that may not be wiped

• Study: E-bay hard drives – bank records and classified missile test results

What to Do with E-Waste• Laws & Regulations

• Next innovation (graphene)

http://www.inewsnetwork.org/interns/e_waste_map_3.html

Web Resources• http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/toxics/

electronics/the-e-waste-problem/where-does-e-waste-end-up/•  • http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/map/

map.html•  http://e-stewards.org/the-e-waste-crisis/

• http://www.ecycleclearinghouse.org/content.aspx?pageid=10•  • http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/geopedia/E-Waste•  http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/

• http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/what-an-ewaste