« TJF | Main | I got it! »
July 21, 2006
The Trash Folder
Matt Power wrote an excellent piece on Computer Recycling in the January 2005 issue of Harper's. I highly recommend reading it. Here's an excert :PVC-sheathed wires such as these are collected and burned in open ditches on the edges of Guiyu, after which the 9 cents’ worth of copper in each is collected and sold. In the process, the burning plastic releases dioxins and furans, two of the world’s most carcinogenic substances, into the air. Most of the burning is done at night, as the Chinese government banned import of ewaste in 2000. This has not dented the practice, though. Customs inspectors are well-lubricated by e-waste brokers, who themselves are amply compensated at both ends: they are paid in America to “recycle” the computers—$10 to $30 per machine, on average—and also sell them upon reaching China. As one broker told the Washington Post last year, “I could care less where they go. My job is to make money.” The workers of Guiyu, meanwhile, are given an untenable choice between poverty and poison.
Posted by gene_wood at July 21, 2006 05:39 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)