Electronic Waste: The Dark Side of the High-Tech Revolution

Abstract

This chapter addresses the health and environmental risks associated with electronic waste (e-waste) from cradle to grave. The issues of e-waste generation, handling, disposal, and export to underdeveloped nations for reuse, recycling, and disposal are discussed. The pattern of environmental injustice in the movement of e-waste especially from the global North to the global South of the world is addressed. First, the chapter presents selected definitions of e-waste, sources of e-waste, and some background literature concerning the growth and diffusion of electronic devices around the world in recent decades. The emergence of e-waste as a global environmental problem of immense proportions is introduced. Second, a conceptual understanding of what constitutes e-waste is provided, including a model of e-waste flow from the generators to processors and from environmental contamination to human health risks. Third, contrary to the image of electronic devices as environmentally benign, lean, and clean, the multitudes of toxic substances neatly packed inside these devices that pose a serious health threat to the public and the environment once discarded and dismantled are emphasized. The case of Guiyu, China, is presented to illustrate the adverse health and environmental impacts of e-waste. The need for stringent regulations to monitor safe handling of e-waste domestically and to control international flow of such waste is also discussed.

Future archaeologists will note that at the tail end of the 20^th century, a new, noxious kind of clutter exploded across the landscape of the world—the digital detritus that has come to be called e-waste.

Chris Carroll, “High-Tech Trash”