China: The electronic wastebasket of the world
By Ivan Watson, CNN
May 31, 2013 -- Updated 0054 GMT (0854 HKT)
Where your used electronics go in China
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- U.N. report: "China now appears to be the largest e-waste dumping site in the world"
- Products originally produced in China are now finding their way back as electronic junk
- The small town of Guiyu as been a major hub for the disposal of e-waste
- "When recycling is done in primitive ways ... it is hugely devastating for the local environment"
Guiyu, China (CNN) -- Did you ever wonder what happens to your old laptop or cellphone when you throw it away?
Chances are some of your old electronic junk will end up in China.
According to a
recent United Nations report, "China now appears to be the largest e-waste dumping site in the world."
E-waste, or electronic
waste, consists of everything from scrapped TVs, refrigerators and air
conditioners to that old desktop computer that may be collecting dust in
your closet.
Many of these gadgets
were initially manufactured in China. Through a strange twist of global
economics, much of this electronic junk returns to China to die.
"According to United
Nations data, about 70% of electronic waste globally generated ended up
in China," said Ma Tianjie, a spokesman for the Beijing office of
Greenpeace.
Much of [the e-waste] comes through illegal channels ... from
developed countries like the United States to countries like China and
Vietnam
Ma Tianjie, Greenpeace
"Much of [the e-waste]
comes through illegal channels because under United Nations conventions,
there is a specific ban on electronic waste being transferred from
developed countries like the United States to countries like China and
Vietnam."
For the past decade, the
southeastern town of Guiyu, nestled in China's main manufacturing zone,
has been a major hub for the disposal of e-waste. Hundreds of thousands
of people here have become experts at dismantling the world's electronic
junk.
On seemingly every
street, laborers sit on the pavement outside workshops ripping out the
guts of household appliances with hammers and drills. The roads in Guiyu
are lined with bundles of plastic, wires, cables and other garbage.
Different components are separated based on their value and potential
for re-sale. On one street sits a pile of green and gold circuit boards.
On another, the metal cases of desktop computers.
At times, it looks like
workers are reaping some giant plastic harvest, especially when women
stand on roadsides raking ankle-deep "fields" of plastic chips.
In one workshop, men
sliced open sacks of these plastic chips, which they then poured into
large vats of fluid. They then used shovels and their bare hands to stir
this synthetic stew.
"We sell this plastic to
Foxconn," one of the workers said, referring to a Taiwanese company
that manufactures products for many global electronics companies,
including Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
Dirty, dangerous work
This may be one of the
world's largest informal recycling operations for electronic waste. In
one family-run garage, workers seemed to specialize in sorting plastic
from old televisions and cars into different baskets. "If this plastic
cup has a hole in it, you throw it away," said a man who ran the
operation, pointing to a pink plastic mug. "We take it and re-sell it."
But recycling in Guiyu
is dirty, dangerous work. "When recycling is done properly, it's a good
thing for the environment," said Ma, the Greenpeace spokesman in
Beijing.
"But when recycling is
done in primitive ways like we have seen in China with the electronic
waste, it is hugely devastating for the local environment."
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According to the April
2013 U.N. report "E-Waste in China," Guiyu suffered an "environmental
calamity" as a result of the wide-scale e-waste disposal industry in the
area.
Much of the toxic
pollution comes from burning circuit boards, plastic and copper wires,
or washing them with hydrochloric acid to recover valuable metals like
copper and steel. In doing so, workshops contaminate workers and the
environment with toxic heavy metals like lead, beryllium and cadmium,
while also releasing hydrocarbon ashes into the air, water and soil, the
report said.
For first-time visitors to Guiyu, the air leaves a burning sensation in the eyes and nostrils.
Toxic tech
Studies by the Shantou
University Medical College revealed that many children tested in Guiyu
had higher than average levels of lead in their blood, which can stunt
the development of the brain and central nervous system.
Piles of technological
scrap had been dumped in a muddy field just outside of town. There,
water buffalo grazed and soaked themselves in ponds surrounded by piles
of electronic components with labels like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Epson
and Dell.
The enormous animals casually stomped through mounds of sheet glass, which clearly had been removed from video monitors.
Flat screen displays often use mercury, a highly toxic metal.
"Releases of mercury can occur during the dismantling of equipment such as flat screen displays," wrote Greenpeace,
in a report titled "Toxic Tech."
"Incineration or landfilling can also result in releases of mercury to
the environment...that can bioaccumulate and biomagnify to high levels
in food chains, particularly in fish."
Most of the workers in
Guiyu involved in the e-waste business are migrants from destitute
regions of China and poorly educated. Many of them downplayed the
potential damage the industry could cause to their health.
They asked only to use their family names, to protect their identity.
It may not sound nice, but we don't dare eat the rice that we farm because it's planted here with all the pollution
Zhou, a local farmer
"Of course it isn't
healthy," said Lu, a woman who was rapidly sorting plastic shards from
devices like computer keyboards, remote controls and even computer mice.
She and her colleagues burned plastic using lighters and blow-torches
to identify different kinds of material.
"But there are families that have lived here for generations ... and there is little impact on their health," she said.
Several migrants said
that while the work is tough, it allows them more freedom than working
on factory lines where young children are not permitted to enter the
premises and working hours are stringent.
Used to be worse
Despite the
environmental degradation and toxic fumes permeating the air, many in
Guiyu said that conditions have improved dramatically over the years.
"I remember in 2007,
when I first came here, there was a flood of trash," said Wong, a
20-year-old man who ferried bundles of electronic waste around on a
motorcycle with a trailer attached to it.
"Before people were
washing metals, burning things and it severely damaged people's lungs,"
Wong added. "But now, compared to before, the [authorities] have cracked
down pretty hard."
But residents who did not work in the e-waste business offered a very different take on the pollution in Guiyu.
A group of farmers who
had migrated from neighboring Guangxi province to cultivate rice in
Guiyu told CNN they did not dare drink the local well water.
They claimed if they tried to wash clothes and linens with the water, it turned fabrics yellow.
The head of the group, who identified himself as Zhou, had another shocking admission.
"It may not sound nice,
but we don't dare eat the rice that we farm because it's planted here
with all the pollution," Zhou said, pointing at water-logged rice paddy
next to him.
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Asked who did eat the
harvested rice, Zhou answered: "How should I know? A lot of it is sold
off ... they don't dare label the rice from here as 'grown in Guiyu.'
They'll write that its rice from some other place."
Not that surprising
considering that the latest food scandal to hit the country earlier this
month is cadmium-laced rice. Officials in Guangzhou city, roughly 400
kilometers away from Guiyu, found high rates of cadmium in rice and rice
products. According to the
city's Food and Drug Administration
samples pulled from a local restaurant, food seller and two university
canteens showed high levels of cadmium in rice and rice noodles.
Officials did not specify how the contaminated rice entered the city's
food supply.
CNN made several
attempts to contact the Guiyu town government. Government officials
refused to comment on the electronic waste issue and hung up the phone.
However, it did appear that government efforts to restrict imports of foreign waste are reducing the flow of e-trash here.
"Why are they stopping
the garbage from reaching us?" asked one man who ran a plastic sorting
workshop. "Of course it's hurting our business," he added.
Domestic e-waste grows
The Chinese government
had some success regulating e-waste disposal with a "Home Appliance Old
for New Rebate Program," which was tested from 2009 to 2011.
With the help of
generous government subsidies, the program collected tens of millions of
obsolete home appliances, according to the U.N.
Even if Chinese
authorities succeed in limiting smuggled supplies of foreign garbage,
the U.N. warns that the country is rapidly generating its own supply of
e-waste.
"Domestic generation of
e-waste has risen rapidly as a result of technological and economic
development," the U.N. reported. It cited statistics showing an
exponential surge in sales of TV's, refrigerators, washing machines, air
conditioners and computers in China over a 16-year period.
To avoid a vicious cycle
of pollution, resulting from both the manufacture and disposal of
appliances, Greenpeace has lobbied for manufacturers to use fewer toxic
chemicals in their products.
The organization also
has a message for consumers who seem to swap their phones, tablets and
other computer devices with increasing frequency.
"Think about where your mobile phone or where your gadgets go," said Ma, the Greenpeace activist.
"When you think about
changing [your phone], or buying a new product, always think about the
footprint that you put on this planet."
Connie Young contributed to this story
