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MIT Study: Only 3.1% of USA Used Electronics "e-Waste" Were Exported
retroworks writes "The MIT Materials Systems Laboratory, EU's StEP, and the U.S. National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER) have released a study, Quantitative Characterization of Domestic and Transboundary Flows of Used Electronics, that analyses collection and export of obsolete electronics generated in the United States. It is the fifth study to debunk a widely reported statistic that '80 percent' of used electronics are dumped abroad. Last year, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) released studies of 279 sea containers, seized as 'e-waste' in African ports of Lagos and Accra, and found 91% of the goods were reused. According to the UN, most of the junk at Chinese and African dumps was generated in African cities (Lagos had 6.9M households with TV in 2007, World Bank). The UNEP study also bolsters African traders claims that used product purchased from nations with strong warranty laws outperform 'affordable' new product imported from Asia. Where did the 'original' widely reported statistic of 80% dumping (see /. slashdot dumping story) originate? Last May, in response to an editorial by Junkyard Planet author Adam Minter in Bloomberg, the source of dumping accusations (Basel Action Network) claimed 'never, ever' to have cited the statistic. The new studies have not slowed USA legislation aimed at banning trade of used electronics for repair, reuse and recycling overseas. This month, the Coalition for American Electronics Recycling (CAER.org) announced 13 republicans and 5 democrats had signed on to support the bill 2791 to criminalize exports of non-shredded displays, cell phones, and computers. Interpol announced a new 'Project Eden' targeting African geek importers in November 2013." In related news, First time accepted submitter Accordion Noir writes: "Virginia tech researchers and a team from the US, Canada, and Russia have released a study indicating that the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 may have had positive environmental results in fish. Reduced mercury releases from mining in areas effected by the economic disarray in Russia led fish to have lower levels of methyl mercury than those in rivers on the Norwegian border or in Canada, where mining continued."
Meanwhile, fully 5% of USA's obsolete electronics remains in my spare room.
The interesting thing about this debate is that whoever figures out how to extract elements and useful molecules in a generalized way from any refuse first is going to literally and figuratively be sitting on a gold mine. Countries will jealously guard their garbage as a national resource, and exporting products overseas will make a lot less sense than it does today.
that's what it looks like is corepirate nazi charades
I was going to post about how high shipping container rates are, and how it doesn't make sense to export them. But a quick estimate shows that shipping from the US to China is 1/7 the cost of China to US (Dalian-Oakland). This is probably the cheapest ocean shipping you can find since the trade between the US and China is so unbalanced. Africa is much more expensive. But you still need rail/truck transport on both ends, and you need to pay the people to process the waste (although not much). I would guess a 40ft container would need at least $3000-5000 of scrap electronics inside before it became worth sending to China. Sending to Africa would probably require a scrap value of at least $8000 since the ocean freight is much more.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
I wonder how many grams of NANO-THERMITE were sent away from investigators and "recycled" along with the rest of the WTC rubble-steel (both molten and cold)....
It seems that has been hushed up even worse (for FoI`s sake) than the amount of PERSONAL AND PRIVATE USER DATA "EXPORTED" from facebooger, Iphones/Ipads, and everyones cellphone-bill to THE ISRAELIS via AKAMAI, PRIMESENSE, and AMDOCS.
pretty heinous violations, if you ask me, and not to be compared to what the Palestinians are going through with the illegal settlements, illegal blockade etc.
How much was extracted, who extracted it, and why was it not examined by MIT as well as NIST? (from the WTC rubble)
This article is good, but it misses the boat on the larger issue.
What process is in place to recycle the used electrons that were powering these devices? These extra electrons have been released into the environment and I have yet to see a study assessing the environmental impact.
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
And I don't see it in the report the prev /. story points to either... And "only 3.1% of USA used electronics" is a pretty fucking large amount.
Yes, liberals...conservatives never tire of taking money from poor people, and demanding that the poor pay for that privilege. See how ad hominem attacks work? You make stuff up regarding a group of people with no basis in fact and people make you look entirely like the ID10T you are, regardless of whether they are conservative, libertarian, liberal or some mix of them all.
That the Basel Action Network disclaimer, that they "never, ever" cited that 80% statistic, was a lie. The link clearly shows that, but not all go to the link.
Godz, I hate liars.
released a study indicating that the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 may have had positive environmental results in fish.
Well, duh!!!! Good govt requires accountability. Communists demand total obedience to the State. No dissent means no accountability for little things like enviro destruction. Communist countries are the worst when it comes to being eco-friendly. It would be nice if eco-activitists figured that out instead of bitching so much about the free societies of the West.
criminalize exports of non-shredded displays, cell phones, and computers
I don't see how this makes sense. Shouldn't they criminalize export of waste (ex.shredded electronics) and allow the export of usable office equipment, Pentium 4 computers and first generation flat panels ? That stuff has a high chance of being reused in Africa, it's market value is much above the lead and tin they contain. Reuse is the best form of recycling: a poor family gets a perfectly usable, 4-5 year old computer at 50$, and no waste is generated. My first computer was a second hand unit imported in Eastern Europe from the West. It cost $90, a month of income for my family, I used it for 5 years and it was the best purchase I have ever made in terms of ROI. I am now a software engineer earning a internationally competitive paycheck.
What they are doing is destroying usable electronics and exporting THE JUNK. This must be lobbied by the IT industry, it has nothing to do with environmentalism.
Sure, the second hand computers will eventually end up in the Lagos dump. But so would new ones, after a few more years. So you either deny computers to Africans or you fix the waste management problem. Banning export of USABLE hardware will improve waste problem but massively impact the growth of the African economies, which in turns generates all the other symptoms: bad public finances and public education, corruption, and no environmental policy.
Is this a good or bad thing? Not clear from the article.
Our local e-waste guy told me that there on average they get 0.18 grams of gold and enough copper and other metals and recyclable plastics to earn 3 to 4 dollars per PC. It appears to be hard ass work. But, with his job exported oversees so some company can make more money, he's done quite well recycling. He has two part time employees. Seeing him makes me glad that we still work hard as a country, in the US. And, it makes me sad that the middle class has to work much harder to try to stay even. So Merry Christmas to all, except fuck you to corporations that outsource purely for profit.
You know there's something rotten when a "recycling" bill is mostly sponsored by Republicans. Probably pork.
Wait - if it really is old then before you dump it, make a quick inventory and offer it on the Vintage Computer Forum http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/forum.php
As WWII came to an end there was a lot (er, a LOT) of used US equipment and vehicles in countries around the world. Some of this was purposely destroyed rather than bringing it back to the USA. In the case of the Willys MB / Ford GPW army jeeps, Willys was keen to sell the new CJ-2A post-war jeep model to farmers and did not want any of their ex-military vehicles to wreck their expanding customer base. I see this electronics move as being much the same - make it illegal for the still-useable gear to be used/sold so as to drive new sales.