• Waste

    • We are producing enormous amounts of waste - much of it is toxic. Radical changes are needed or the problem will spin completely out of control.

    • Waste

  • Income for e-waste worker

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  • US dollars
  • wages earned so far, this year

    • A lousy career

    E-waste workers are paid as little as 1.50 US dollars per day for unprotected work with toxics that make them sick.

    Where did your old computer end up?

    Many end up in e-waste sites in Asia and Africa. Computers found in these sites come from Australia, Japan, England, USA, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Denmark. Well…from all over the world!

    What’s happening at these sites?

    Workers dismantle the electronics by hand and remove materials that have value. Chemicals are often used to separate the various materials. The useless parts are burned.

    It’s extremely toxic

    Investigators from Toxics Link was inspecting a typical e-waste site in India. They became dizzy within just 1 hour of breathing the heavy air pollution. But this is not all…

    Workers are completely unprotected

    …the workers at these e-waste sites work long hours and are completely unaware of the toxics that surround them. In most cases, the only thing they have to “protect” them from the toxic fumes are portable household fans. Many are children.

    So what can we do?

    Solutions include electronic products without toxics that are designed for upgrade, reuse, and recycling. “Extended producer responsibility” / “take back” implies that producers take responsibility for the whole life-cycle of their products.

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Content

  • OK, I get it. Bad things are going on
  • Now what?