It's Time to Say Goodbye to e-Waste: Why Our Gadgets are Toxic to Developing Nations

The dark side of today's hot new gadgets is the toxic e-waste being dumped into developing nations. E-waste, according to HowStuffWorks.com is "the term used to describe discarded electronics and electrical products." E-waste was also the topic of a recent CNN article on one of the hidden dangers of our increasingly tech-dependent society. Reporter Matt Ford wrote of "clouds of black smoke from burning plastic hang over the sites of Nigeria's vast dumps" and the young children picking through cracked PC monitors and television screens. "People living and working on and around the dump sites, many of whom are children, are exposed to a cocktail of dangerous chemicals that can cause severe damage to health, including cancer, damage to the nervous system and to brain development in children," says Kim Schoppink, Toxics Campaigner at Greenpeace. "The open burning creates even more hazardous chemicals among which are cancerous dioxins."

While the developed world quenches its insatiable thirst for the newest and latest gizmo, much of the subsequent e-waste is exported to countries like India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria and Ghana. For many, this approach flies in the face of environmental justice.

Defined by the Environmental Protection Agency, environmental justice is "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies." The placement of nuclear waste dumps, toxic incinerators, atomic reactors and other such facilities into developing nations is commonly referred to as "environmental racism."

Former chief economist of the World Bank (and currently Director of the White House's National Economic Council for President Barack Obama) Lawrence Summers has encouraged dumping our toxic waste in poorer countries. In 1991, Summers (in an internal memorandum), declared: "I've always thought that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly under-polluted." He added, "Health-impairing pollution should be done in the country with the lowest cost, which will be the countries with the lowest wages," before concluding: "The economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest-wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that."

Schoppink of Greenpeace has this to say about such impeccable logic (sic): "The pollution and related health problems in countries where e-waste is dumped will increase massively as the amount of electronics used worldwide is growing exponentially and the number of countries used as dump sites will grow."

How Can You Help?

Fortunately, awareness is growing and action is taking place. You can take a small step in the direction of environmental justice by greening your approach toward consumer electronics.