According to data from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel, the length of a smartphone’s life cycle has been increasing. Yet people still upgrade their devices every two to three years.[1] 

This got me thinking about e-waste (electronic waste). According to Statista, China is the largest producer of e-waste, followed by the US.[2] Ironically, China is also one of the biggest e-waste ‘dumping grounds’ for developed countries. MIT and Basel Action Network co-produced a series of videos in  2018 that followed e-waste coming out of the US.[3] They put 200 geolocating tracking devices inside old computers, printers, and TVs, dropping them at various disposal sites in America. They used an app called Trip Tracker that showed a dynamic video, like a flight tracker, of the e-waste moving around the world. A Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) was transported from a location in Mississippi through California and across the Pacific Ocean before reaching a garbage dump in Hong Kong, and finally arriving in Taiwan. A second LCD started in Michigan, moved through the US, before arriving at Hong Kong’s SCHUPAN Industrial Recycling center. The third and most shocking video showed 11 trackers originating from different cities in the US before arriving at locations all across Asia ranging from China to the Philippines. There were over 200 monitors with each traveling an average of 92 days and 4,262 kilometers from the U.S. to Asia. 

The e-waste currently being transported includes hundreds of different toxic substances including arsenic, cadmium, and lead. The resulting discharge pollutes the entire surrounding environment, including the water, air, and ground. Local workers dismantle the waste and to salvage reusable parts. Many of them get sick from the toxic chemicals in the materials. Developed countries, on the other hand, pay very little for the transportation and labor fees to get rid of this waste, and in the process protect themselves from hazards including radioactivity.

I researched e-waste treatment methods and policies. This included watching the documentary ‘The Circuit’ (2016), produced by Katie Campbell and Ken Christensen. According to them, from 1980 to 2000, many developed countries realized the negative health impacts of e-waste and other toxic waste. At the time, on-site waste disposal was strongly opposed by the public. As a result, governments like the U.S. started to transfer the risks rather than build out improved solutions to deal with the waste. This was done in an irresponsible manner. The burden was shifted to countries with less restrictive trash disposal policies. The developed countries didn’t consider the horrible influence on the developing world.

In the 1980s, this solution became more and more controversial. Finally, in 1992, the United Nations Environment Programme drafted the ‘Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal’.[5] The bill resulting in the creation of this Convention was passed to curb developed countries exporting, transferring, or dumping hazardous wastes into developing countries. This included e-waste. One important thing to note is that the U.S. is the only developed country that didn’t sign the Basel Convention, so it is not prohibited from dumping e-waste into developing countries. Meanwhile, the U.S. government didn’t pass any federal laws regulating e-waste disposal, and 50% of states and cities allow landfilling. Also, metal prices like steel, lead, gold, palladium, and silver dropped around 15% from 2014 to 2016,[6] and declining profits in the recycling industry have also led them to move e-waste from their recycling plants and export it to developing countries at an increased rate. 

A man named Jim Puckett helped illustrate the severity of the situation. He founded the Basel Convention Action Network, a nonprofit working to take action on and make the public aware of the Convention and its requirements. Jim pretended to be a businessman and entered a garbage dump in Hong Kong with a hidden camera to reveal the truth of the e-waste industry in 2016. [4] From the video, we can see that those facilities were very simple and had no environmental protection rules: mercury and other dangerous chemicals were scattered on the ground, and workers were not using protective gear. These substances were not only hurting workers but also polluting the local environment. They are even able to penetrate the soil and remain there. The resulting discharge goes into nearby rivers, which causes water pollution. From conversations with workers, Jim learned that most e-waste was from the US, and most nearby residents were making a living by dismantling it. He found and recovered several Dell computers, which was suspicious given that Dell is an American computer company that had built a partnership with Goodwill for computer recycling programs in 2004.[7] The revelation of the real situation hurt Dell’s reputation and put pressure on them to improve programs to actually fix problems. As a result, Dell announced new rules for recycling and would take more responsibility for monitoring its e-waste. Now Dell aims to work together with NGOs to protect our earth's environment and is appealing to more companies to join them in solving environmental issues. 

We only have one Earth, and protecting our home is everyone’s responsibility. The land, water, and air are all connected. When one country dumps waste in other countries, pollution can spread and go back to them. Pollution never hurts just one country, it hurts everyone. Recycling e-waste is a small but critical step, and 124 countries like Australia, Canada, China, and India have agreed to follow the Basel Convention. I strongly suggest countries like the US that are not doing so take actionable steps to control hazardous wastes. As individuals, we can do better to properly dispose of e-waste. Neighborhoods and communities can monitor factories and each other. Experts on these topics can share their knowledge of the problem with the public. Western governments can educate on and enforce proper e-waste recycling methods. Gradually everyone will realize that e-waste recycling needs to be prioritized for both our health and the future.

References:

“Smartphone users are waiting longer before upgrading — here’s why”. 2019. CNBC. cnbc.com/2019/05/17/smartphone-users-are-waiting-longer-before-upgrading-heres-why.html#:~:text=In%20the%20U.S.%20and%20Europe%2C%20especially%2C%20the%20life%20cycle%20of,number%20had%20increased%20to%2024.7.
“Leading countries based on generation of electronic waste worldwide in 2019”. 2021. Statista. statista.com/statistics/499952/ewaste-generation-worldwide-by-major-country/#:~:text=Global%20e%2Dwaste%20generation%20by%20major%20country%202019&text=China%20is%20the%20largest%20producer,million%20metric%20tons%20was%20produced.
“The dark side of electronic waste recycling”. 2019. Verge Science. youtube.com/watch?v=vufLW4xOsS4 
“On The Trail Of America’s Dangerous, Dead Electronics”. 2016. OPB. opb.org/news/series/circuit/tracking-dangerous-dead-electronics/ 
“Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal”. basel.int/Portals/4/Basel%20Convention/docs/text/BaselConventionText-e.pdf
“Steel demand ‘evaporating at unprecedented speed’”. 2015. CNBC. cnbc.com/2015/10/28/steel-demand-evaporating-at-unprecedented-speed.html
“Goodwill and Dell expand free computer recycling programs”. 2012. Goodwill. goodwill.org/press-releases/goodwill-and-dell-expand-free-computer-recycling-programs/ 
“Made in China 2025”. 2016. The State Council of the People’s Republic of China. gov.cn/zhengce/content/2015-05/19/content_9784.htm