Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Where do your electronics go after you're done with them?

In the U.S., after companies are done with their electronics, they are often exported overseas to dumps. There, they are burned to dispose of them, which allows a ton of chemicals to seep into the environment. These chemicals cause countless environmental and health risks, including cancers and reproductive problems.

"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," Kim Schoppink, Toxics Campaigner at Greenpeace, told CNN.

Nigeria, and other countries in Africa, are leading importers of so-called e-waste, which is a term for all consumer electronics. Studies have found that the land around these e-waste dumps is often high in lead and other hazardous materials.

While only 20 percent of electronics are recycled safely (or given to charity), there is a growing movement for safe recycling processes for electronics. For more information on these e-waste dumps, check out this story from cnn.com.