China Not Fighting Off E-Waste Nightmare

[HardOCP News]

It seems like I post this story about once a year but the problem just seems to be getting worse each time I do. 1 million tons of e-waste a year? Scary when you think about it, isn’t it.

Upwards of 90 percent ends up in dumps that observe no environmental standards, where shredders, open fires, acid baths and broilers are used to recover gold, silver, copper and other valuable metals while spewing toxic fumes and runoff into the nation's skies and rivers.

 

[FrgMstr]

This ugly business is driven by pure economics.

Hehe, has there ever been an ugly business that was not? And no, prostitution does not count as "ugly," unless you are on the cheap of course.

 

[bpmurrGT]

Wow, I'm surprised they didn't try to blame George Bush for this. Anytime there is an environmental issue its George Bush's fault and the evil American capitalist pigs he rules.

 

[RoBo]

At least it's happening there and not here.

 

[Azhar]

At least it's happening there and not here.

We breathe the same air though and share the same atmosphere and Sun though.

 

[Adisharr]

I'm surprised there's not a Walmart around the area.

 

[Vorazan]

Effin communists.

 

[Mad_CatMk2]

Effin communists.

hey hey watch it, I don't think its as much as the communists, but more of the corrupt officials. I'm from a 'better' part of China and (although I'm not a commie ), communism does have its benefits.

it sickens me, though, that the locals are doing this in a seemingly drastic measure to make money and survive.

oh and when I get home for holidays, I'll probably be breathing parts of those e-polluted air

 

[RoffleCopter]

They're not even communists anymore, in the strict definition of the term. More like totalitarian/dictatorship/oligarchy with one crazy capitalist economy.

 

[Martyr]

china is pretty much facist or heading towards it.

 

[yagisencho]

This is disturbing on so many levels. There's the immediate human cost in the health of those working in those conditions and living in that environment. But it's also chilling to think that we're all contributing to it, albeit unwittingly. We have recycling programs in my area, complete with fees for some types of items. I'd rather leave a box of dead hardware in my garage though than send it off to be part of that problem.

 

[Azhar]

This is disturbing on so many levels. There's the immediate human cost in the health of those working in those conditions and living in that environment. But it's also chilling to think that we're all contributing to it, albeit unwittingly. We have recycling programs in my area, complete with fees for some types of items. I'd rather leave a box of dead hardware in my garage though than send it off to be part of that problem.

Did you know that alot of American recycling programs take your money and tell you that they'll get your stuff disposed of properly, and end up shipping them to foreign countries like China just based on their words that they (the Chinese/foreign companies) recycle, even though they don't?

American go-between know this but continue to ignore it to maintain business relationships with their Chinese/foreign partner

 

[yagisencho]

Yes, that's my point. Even people who conscienciously recycle end up being part of the problem. Congress needs to debate on ratifying the Basel Convention or something equivelant.

 

[Unabomber]

China doesn't give a rat's orifice about pollution. They're the fastest-growing industrial community, and aren't going to do anything that would jeopardize their fast-accumulating wealth.

Now, before anyone says "But the Chinese have already signed and ratified that Kyoto Protocol!" keep in mind, that the Chinese and Indians (Asian) are *exempt* from the restrictions on that stupid treaty. Of course they're in favor of it, since it doesn't affect them in any significant way...

 

[OlIv0rIolI]

Well, I guess that is one way of thinning out the huge Chinese population. Poison the sky, poison the water, poison the food people eat, and poison everything else not mentioned above.

On a more serious note. The pollution in China stems from an out of control economy and an ineffective / nonexistent environmental protection agency due to CORRUPTION which stems from the way the Communist gov't works ( although now its more like fascism like Martyr said ). The gov't have absolutely no oversight or check and balance(the part that matters most) and will not allow any either. The gov't has become very much a family business and its controlled by big coporations(sounds familiar)

Did you know that the leadership of china as in the high governmental officials get all their food from a special area of land that has no pollution and that land is reserved just for them and no one else is allowed to touch it. Yes its true. That area has the most stringent form of environmental control while the rest of the Chinese population eat practically poison. Anyone remember that book called "Animal Farm" by George Orwell.

The only areas of China right now that are relatively pollution free are the northeast(Manchuria, Heilongjiang) and the northwest(Tibet,Xinjiang). The grain produced out of those areas fetch a high price in the Chinese domestic market as you can imagine.

If you feel like shortening your life expectancy by visiting popular Chinese destinations like those Southern Chinese Cites such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, etc, just remember when you are dying from some cancer that I warned you.

I wish the Chinese society has a more long term view of things like the Japanese(even though I hate to make the comparison).

 

[Martyr]

i wish the chinese would return to the intellectualism of the past. some of their discoveries and machines were amazing.

 

[Charger69]

I wish the Chinese society has a more long term view of things like the Japanese(even though I hate to make the comparison).

No offense, but isn't Japan a major reason why ocean stocks are depleted?

Biodiversity is a major component in the "long-term" skew of things.

 

[milkweg]

When I bought my last LCD in Canada I had to pay a $12.00 recycling fee. They better come pick it up and recycle it when it finally dies on me.

 

[milkweg]

If you feel like shortening your life expectancy by visiting popular Chinese destinations like those Southern Chinese Cites such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, etc, just remember when you are dying from some cancer that I warned you.

Even in Canada there are thousands of people that die prematurely every year due to pollution, especially in Toronto. I have noticed recently that they are now starting to package music CD's in cardboard folders instead of the plastic ones. That ruins the uniformity of my cd collection and you can't read the spine to see what is in it as there is no spine. I asked why and was told because they are recyclable. This is just stupid because not many people throw away their cd covers and the process to remove the gobs of ink on these covers causes pollution too. I know that for a fact because I used to work in the printing trade. When they recycle paper they have to remove the inks from it. Inks that we recycled used to go to a power plant in Texas where they burned it into the atmosphere to provide power. Bit of a catch22. I can think of methods they could use that would help the environment a lot more. They could just sell the cd by keeping them behind a counter and having an electronic catalog of what they sold. That would mean we would all have to use cd binders but that would help the environment a lot better than their dumbass method. Of course I would expect them to pass on the savings to us because packaging and printing costs are a big part of what we pay for when we buy a music cd. Then there is the digital download alternative too which helps the environment even more than my method.