Computer E-Waste Getting Worse – Recycle Your PC!
Waste from discarded electronics will rise dramatically in the developing world within a decade, with computer waste in India alone to grow by 500 percent from 2007 levels by 2020, a U.N. study released Monday said. E-waste–a term describing electronics including phones, printers, televisions, refrigerators and other appliances–grows globally by 40 million metric tones a year. Thousands of discarded computers from western Europe and the US arrive in the ports of west Africa every day, ending up in massive toxic dumps where children burn and pull them apart to extract metals like copper and gold for cash. Legit Reviews strongly promotes recycling your old PC and even wrote a piece about local PC recycling programs in St. Louis. You don’t know it will be done properly, but that is the best thing you can do for now.
A report released in Bali on Monday (PDF) by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) predicted that by 2020, e-waste from computers would grow by up to 400 percent from 2007 levels in China and South Africa. “This report gives new urgency to establishing ambitious, formal and regulated processes for collecting and managing e-waste via the setting up of large, efficient facilities in China,” said Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP. “China is not alone in facing a serious challenge. India, Brazil, Mexico and others may also face rising environmental damage and health problems if e-waste recycling is left to the vagaries of the informal sector,” he said in the report.
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