LIFE OF ELECTRONIC WASTE GEOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVE Dan Harris and Mara Chen Dept. Of Geography and Geosciences Salisbury University ECLIPSE, March 9 th, 2013

E-Waste Industrial Waste Electronic Waste – Info/electronic revolution “Information Economy” High-tech electronics: Cell phones, laptops, desktops, TVs, iPods, etc... Nasty components! Heavy metals: mercury, lead, arsenic, beryllium, brominated flame retardant, Hazardous: combustion– dioxins– toxic gases fro inhalation and deposition Health Impacts – cancer, reproductive disorders, endocrine disruption Environmental non-governmental organization (ENGOS) 50-80% exported overseas – Processed by hand in Asia and Africa

Lead most common leachate – primarily from mother board printed wires 30 to 100 times regulatory level (mg/L) – 5 mg/L - hazardous

E-Waste -- Production Other Environmental impact Materials and Energy intensive Semiconductor – 600 times its weight in fossil fuels, chemicals and secondary inputs Automobile production – “only twice” IT production – 2% of global CO 2 (equivalent to airline industry)

What to Do with E-Waste? UN Basel Convention: signatory countries Problems/Loopholes definitions of hazardous waste Contradiction between individual nations Allowed for bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements between signatory nations if “environmentally sound” or equivalent Fuzzy definition… Trans-boundary movements legal if material re-used or recycled Remains “highly ambiguous” Flexible interpretations US only OECD not to ratify treaty Organization for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD)

Environmental Justice: Pollution Haven Hypothesis Pollution intensive economic activity tends to migrate to jurisdictions where environmental regulation is lowest Desperate for wealth - Compete for waste/resource! Poorer countries disproportionately affected Toxic Traders – 1980s – Eastern Europe and developing world Ex Khian Sea – Norwegian ship registered to Liberia Dumped thousands of tons of incinerator ash on Haitian Beach Spent two years trying to find port for remaining toxic waste Suspected to have dumped it in Indian Ocean Nigeria – Italy shipped (PCBs) polychlorinated biphenyls to farmer and paid to store Ruptured and contaminated fields and village Guiya, China – airborne hydrocarbons and heavy metals 100 to 600 times higher than other Asian cities Link pregnancy to neurological impairment development PCBs in human breast milk Inhalation and fish consumption

Geographies of E-waste Data – fast evolving, hard to track, incomplete at best Greenpeace, Basel Action Network (BAN), Toxic Links India Trace North American and European waste to India, China and Nigeria Visual documentation, water and soil analysis, asset tag evidence, forensic data from hard drives Documented health problems Silicosis, dioxins, mercury, lead Carcinogen inhalation Pollute local drinking water and food supply Ex. China and India – heavy metals and chemicals Lead, copper, tin, antimony, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, PCBs 100s of times background

Geographies of E-Waste Spatial Patterns in China – port & production regions Pearl River Delta, Shanghai and Beijing Importer concentration as well as production centers Global patterns Mimic most commodities Europe, Americas and Asia are largest trading areas Internally focused Africa, the Caribbean, Middle East, and Oceania Externally focused Shifting – 10% internal in Caribbean, 20% in Middle East, 60% in Oceania Likely increased usuage of technology Basel Convention – does not limit trade between developing nations

2001 Flows Lepawsky and McNabb

2006 Flows Lepawsky and McNabb

E-Waste Geographic Patterns Not as simple as rich to poor – no differentiation in classification Africa’s trade – exports to Korea and Spain Caribbean – Americas primarily Venezuela Middle East – export to Korea, Indonesia, Philippines Dynamics – 2006 data Asia recipient from all regions of the world 96% of exports from Americas 99% of exports from Europe 98% of exports from Middle East 99% of exports from Oceania Waste in one region, resource in another Leaded children’s jewelry and toys!

E-Waste Recycling Very small percentage US estimate 11-14% The rest...dumed or burned Formal or informal landfills or incinerators 70 – 80% of e-waste from recyclers exported Less stringent environmental laws Roadside burning or acid baths or simply dumped Extract precious metal Send to US prisons????? Find citation….. Confidential data Hard drives and cell phones contain private data that may not be wiped Study: E-bay hard drives – bank records and classified missile test results

What to Do with E-Waste Laws & Regulations Next innovation (graphene)

Web Resources ectronics/the-e-waste-problem/where-does-e-waste-end-up/ ectronics/the-e-waste-problem/where-does-e-waste-end-up/ ml ml