Electronic Ruins The Grecian Statues of the Modern World Maggie Blaha Professor Roger Philips

So do these wonders a most dizzy pain, That mingles Grecian grandeur With the rude Wasting of old time— with a billowy main— A sun—a shadow of a magnitude Jon Keats, “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles”

Definition of Electronic Waste (e-waste)  There is no standard or generally accepted definition of e- waste in the world (Widmer et al. 2005)  Any of these discarded surplus or obsolete EE items:  Computers  Mobile phones  TVs  Household appliances  CDs and DVDs

Formal vs. Informal Recycling  “Waste recycling companies worry that there are insufficient sources of e-wastes for their operation, as informal collectors and second-hand dealers remove e-waste from the waste stream before formal recycling companies can get it” (Yang, 2008).

China’s Production & Consumption of Electrical & Electronic (EE) Devices  PC domestic shipments in China for 2012 are projected to reach 83.6 million units (HIS iSuppli Market Research).  Over one billion people have a mobile phone, which is 75% of China’s total population  400,000,000 television sets

Guiyu: The E-Waste Capital  Located in Guangdong region  World’s second most polluted spot  Accommodates millions of tons of overseas and domestic e-waste/year  60-80% of the families are engaged in small-scale e- waste recycling operations

The Danger to E-Waste Workers  Each computer display contains 4-8 pounds of lead and monitor glass contains 20 pounds of lead by weight  When these components are illegally disposed of, the lead seeps into the environment  Mercury used in switches and circuit boards seeps into the environment when they are burned  Exposure to carbon black in printers has been known to cause lung cancer

Resolution  Replace all informal recycling centers with formal ones  Enforce producer, consumer, and importer responsibility  Phase-out obsolete production  Employ current e-waste workers in new recycling centers  Enforce strict regulation measures for importing illegal e- waste

References Black, C. (2008). Shanghaied? How the commercial value of electronic waste has deterred efforts to regulate its movement from the United States to China: The resulting impact on the Chinese economy and environment. Selected Works, Huo, X., Peng, L., Xu, X., Zheng, L., Qiu, B., Qi, Z., Zhang, B., Han, D., & Piao, Z. (2007). Elevated blood lead levels of children in Guiyu, an electronic waste recycling town in China. Environmental Health Perspectives, 115(7), Liu, X., Tanaka, M. & Matsui, Y. (2006). Electrical and electronic waste management in China: Progress and barriers to overcome. Waste Management & Research, 24, doi: / X Tong, X., Lifset, R., & Lindhquist, T. (2005). Extended producer responsibility in China: Where is “best practice”? Journal of Industrial Ecology, 8(4), 6-9. Veenstra, A., Wang, C., Fan, W., & Ru, Y. (2009). An analysis of e-waste flows in China. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 47, Wang, Y., Ru, Y., & Veenstra, A. (2010). Recent developments in waste electrical and electronics equipment legislation in China. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 47, doi: /s Westcott, M. (2012). E-waste. Queensland Parliamentary Library and Research Service, No. 06, Yang, W. (2008). Regulating electrical and electronic wastes in China. Review of European Community & I nternational Environmental Law, 17(3), Other Sources Daily chart: All the phones in China. (2012). [Graph illustration The Economist March 1, 2012]. The Economist. Retrieved from Forecasted Scrapping Volume of Five Major Electronic Equipment Types. (2006). [Table China’s Plastics S tatistics Yearbook 2006]. China’s Plastics Yearbook. Sometimes Interesting. (2011, July 17). Electronic waste dump of the world: Guiyu, China. Retrieved from The rude wasting of old time. (Spring 2011). Virginia Quarterly Review, 1-3.