Revealed: the toxic trail of e-waste that leads from the US to Hong Kong

[uawchild]

Source: South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

The acrid stench of overheating plastic fills the air as a grime-covered worker perched on a bench surrounded by old printers nonchalantly tosses a cigarette to the ground. It’s dirty work disembowelling the detritus of the digital economy.

Welcome to the New Territories district of Yuen Long, which if environmental campaigners are to be believed, threatens to become ground-zero for the world’s electronic waste.

In recent years a cluster of legally questionable work sites have sprung up to store and dismantle the disgorged contents of the growing number of shipping containers arriving in Hong Kong from the planet’s biggest producer of e-waste – the United States.

Monitors pile up, circuit boards are separated from smartphone cases and LCD screens are smashed to smithereens in scenes that are more Mad Max than Silicon Valley.

In partnership with a Seattle-based environmental group that has monitored the flow of hazardous electronic waste out of the US for two decades, the Sunday Morning Post visited 10 such sites identified by the group using tracking devices planted inside waste products.

Read more: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1984534/revealed-toxic-trail-e-waste-leads-us-hong-kong

[uawchild]

1. Dumping our e-garbage where?!?

"The Basel Action Network (BAN) says Hong Kong’s traditional role as a transshipment point for mainland-bound e-waste is changing – bringing danger to not only the health of the ­often undocumented workers who break down the technology but the wider environment."

I had no idea that we shipped our toxic e-garbage waste to mainland Chine thru Hong Kong. Things seem totally out of hand there now with, and I quote the article, ' “mom and pop” workshops dismantling computers and melting down plastic in large containers using what they described as primitive techniques, exposing workers to toxic materials and contaminating the soil and water.'

[allan01]

2. again avoiding us laws and us workers who could have done this .

ship making and ship breaking went overseas, steel makeing went overseas ,manufacturing went overseas . just so the onwers dont have to pay us wages and avoid us environmental laws.

[NWCorona]

3. The discussion shouldn't be just limited to Hong Kong.

India and particularly Africa are suffering from this as well.

[elleng]

4. Marx Was Right: Five Surprising Ways Karl Marx Predicted 2014

From the iPhone 5S to corporate globalization, modern life is full of evidence of Marx's foresight

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/marx-was-right-five-surprising-ways-karl-marx-predicted-2014-20140130

[SoLeftIAmRight]

5. Facts Facts Facts

watch them run away from this post

[passiveporcupine]

7. excellent article

the spread of capitalism across the planet in search of new markets. "The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe," he wrote. "It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere."

And it's pretty obvious that it doesn't matter how many people need to die in the process. We MUST have those markets and/or those resources, whether material or human.

Why is it some people can see the future, but even with history books we can't seem to learn from the past?

[fasttense]

8. Thanks for posting that link.

Despite the continuing trend on here to go conservative, every once in awhile, there are small pools for liberals to bask in. Your link provided one of those liberal pools. Thanks.

[elleng]

9. Thanks, fasttense;

I do try.

[passiveporcupine]

6. I mentioned this is another thread yesterday

This is epidemic in proportion and it is disgusting that our society is involved in this 'designed for obsolescence product market', mostly funded with credit, and a consumer ethic that has taught us to buy buy buy...always upgrade to the latest fanciest gadget...throw away the old stuff, so it can be shipped overseas to poison other countries.

The US is the world’s largest producer of electronic waste – thought to generate 3.14 million tonnes of e-waste each year, according to the country’s ­Environmental Protection ­Agency.

I heard recently that Apple used to have a policy to recycle it's products...giving credit to upgrade to the next product. What did they do with their e-waste?

Maybe our designers need to start incorporating ways to use recylable materials in new designs that are easy to dismantle and process into new products. But that might mean not as much profit.