Study: E-waste dumping victimizes developing nations

Report asks governments to pressure electronics manufacturers to remove toxic chemicals from products

Some countries do have safeguards in place. "Sending IT equipment in Africa that cannot be repaired should be discouraged. In Zambia we use the Technology and Service Neutral Approach system, which states that all ICTs and IT equipment being exported or imported must meet the international standard and health requirements of users," said Shuller Habeenzu, chief executive officer of the Communications Authority of Zambia.

And the Basel Convention also specifically addresses the issue of hazardous wastes being dumped in developing countries and in Eastern Europe. Stricter environmental regulations in developed nations that were imposed in the late 1980s led to the rise in "toxic traders," as the Basel Convention Web site calls them. Those traders set up business to profit from those who sought cheaper alternatives for getting rid of hazardous wastes after it became more difficult and costly to deal with such materials under stricter regulations.

The Basel Convention, which is part of the United Nations Environmental Program, is an international treaty that sets up controls, enforcement mechanisms and requirements that signatories agree to follow, including preventing and monitoring illegal traffic in hazardous waste, promoting cleaner technologies and production, and focusing specifically on helping developing nations.

The treaty has been ratified by 165 countries; the U.S. is not one of them. The U.S. signed the Convention in March of 1990, indicating agreement with the treaty and the intention of ratifying it, but thus far has not taken the final step in ratification. While other nations have not signed at all, along with the U.S., only Haiti and Afghanistan have taken that step and then failed to ratify the treaty. The BAN report on dumping in Lagos calls the U.S. "the worst actor" among developed countries that perpetuate dumping of hazardous waste in developing nations.

"As the only developed country absent at the table of the world's only waste treaty, the U.S. can be viewed as nothing short of a remarkable example of irresponsibility," the report said. "The U.S. policy on electronic waste is shamelessly negligent ... Canada, likewise, while nominally a Basel Party, seems intent on ignoring the Basel waste lists to avoid controlling e-waste exports."

Much of the trade in e-waste to Africa and elsewhere "is in fact illegal under the Basel Convention," the report said. "Yet it appears that far too many governments are looking the other way and are failing in dramatic fashion to properly enforce and implement the Convention for post-consumer electronic waste."

However, there are notable exceptions, including a European Union directive that calls for electronics manufacturers to stop using hazardous materials in products by the middle of next year, Guiterrez said. "They know, they are aware, they see the writing on the wall," he said of manufacturers, noting that "it's the same manufacturers" who produce goods sold in Europe that also are sold elsewhere.

Relative to the Waste from Electronic and Electrical Equipment directive, Europe must "heed the fact" that as tougher regulations take effect, "growing volumes of electronic waste will be collected, which, without proper enforcement of their Waste Shipment Regulation, could translate into a tsunami of electronic waste flowing from port to port."