SECURITY

Project Aims to Track and Regulate International E-Waste

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 05-18-11 | Comments

Electronic waste, which releases toxic chemicals into the environment, is a growing international problem. A joint five-year project from the EPA and United Nations will track e-waste shipments around the globe and seek to encourage the recycling of hazardous materials.

While Americans own on average 24 electronics per household, only 10 to 15 percent of these machines are recycled when thrown out. Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a broad category including a wide range of devices from televisions and mobile phones to refrigerators and toasters.

A new joint international project between the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and UNU (United Nations University) seeks to better regulate e-waste by tracking shipments from North America to African and Asian nations for recycling.

As little as 10 percent of e-waste in the United States is recycled properly.

Electronics markets are growing quickly, and e-waste is skyrocketing as a result. When not properly recycled, e-waste often ends up at normal waste facilities, where it is burned to release toxic chemicals. Many personal computers, for example, contain cadmium (Cd), a chemical dangerous to humans.

In addition to toxic chemicals, e-waste contains valuable materials such as rare earth metals and gold. According to UNU�s StEP (Solving the E-Waste Problem) Initiative, recycling one million cell phones can recover about 50 pounds of gold and 550 pounds of silver.

�All too often today, unwanted electronics wind up among regular household trash, leading to health-threatening incineration or wasteful land-filling,� said UN Under Secretary General Konrad Osterwalder, Rector of UNU, according to a statement. �The rapid pace at which electronic products are being replaced compels all countries to find effective ways to cope responsibly with their e-waste and recover the valuable resources within.�

"The electronics that improve our everyday lives often end up discarded in developing countries where improper disposal can threaten local people and the environment,� said EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs Michelle DePass.

For the e-waste reduction project, StEP and the EPA will be involving private and public organizations, such as the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, and others.

The five-year, $2.5 million project will work to characterize what routes are used to ship electronics from North America and to harmonize international efforts involving tracking and data collection. The project also seeks better enforcement of illegal e-waste shipments by collaborating with port officials in West Africa and Asia.

"In learning to manage e-waste, we need to reflect many inter-connected socio-economic and environmental factors, such as the impact of today's economic crisis and digital divide issues, and to promote closed-loop, resource-circular societies,� said Kazuhiko Takeuchi, vice rector of UNU, in a statement. �These cooperation development activities led by UNU co-founded StEP will help developing countries find their own way to globally sound e-waste management."