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EXPORTING HARM:
ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM


source: guardian.co.uk/uk_news/
story/0,3604,1309066,00.html

www.ban.org/E-waste/technotrash
finalcomp.pdf

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addressing the problem

Scraps’ export to developing countries is profitable because labour costs are cheap and regulations offshore are usually lax compared to developed countries laws:
  • a pilot study in San Jose (California) found that the cost per pound of glass-to-glass recycling of computer monitors in the US was US$0.50 compared to only US$0.05 in China.
Addressing the problem...
  • 77 non-OECD countries, and China, pushed heavily for a ban on the shipping of waste for recycling. As a result, the Basel Ban was adopted, promising an end to the export of hazardous waste from rich OECD countries to poor non-OECD countries for recovery operations by December 31, 1997.
…and eluding controls
  • An Impel* study of 6 major European ports, has found that 22% of all the waste exports checked for more than a year were illegal.


  • In 2003, about 23,000 tons of IT and electronic equipment was shipped out illegally (from UK), mostly to China, West Africa, Pakistan and India.


* IMPEL is the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law.
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