60 Minutes Visits the Place Where Old Computers Go to Die

It is true that we have covered the epidemic of e-waste here before, on more than one occasion. But lacking the resources of a major television network we never gave it the depth of treatment that it received on CBS’ 60 Minutes this week. Brace yourself for some very disturbing coverage of the direct impact your old, discarded computer equipment is having on hapless Chinese laborers and their families. 60 Minutes’ crew visited an “E-Waste Recycler” in Denver following a large collection drive where well intended people brought old electronic equipment to be recycled. Their reporters made a note of containers on site that were filled with old CRT monitors (several pounds of lead in every one), photographed the container and its numerical markings. They then followed these containers across the ocean to a dock in Hong Kong and on to a town in China where the E-Waste is processed.

In the town of Guiyu agriculture has failed and the only industry developed is the breaking down of old electronic equipment from the West. Circuit boards are heated over coal fires until the toxic chemicals holding them together begin to liquefy and run off into the ground or vaporize into the atmosphere. The lead from CRTs is extracted by hand with no safety equipment or controls of any kind. The conditions are unimaginable to Wester sensibilities, and the consequences predictable. “Scientists have studied the area and discovered that Guiyu has the highest levels of cancer-causing dioxins in the world. They found pregnancies are six times more likely to end in miscarriage, and that seven out of ten kids have too much lead in their blood. “ It’s one thing to fret and fume about the shady and irresponsible business of repackaging discarded electronics and shipping them to the third world. To see graphic footage along the lines of the material gathered by 60 minutes, to learn of the raw facts surrounding the living conditions for the men, women and innocent children exposed to this refuse is startling. If ever an abuse of human dignity was preventable and all the more distressing for the total disregard for suffering that allows it to persist then this is it. Certainly, the Market should not allow this outrage to continue for one moment longer, but it seems clear that governments should be stepping in in a more meaningful way as well. And consumers ought to think twice before sending off their used electronic equipment to be “recycled” or rushing out to purchase the shiny new hardware in the fancy packaging. If conscientious animal lovers rescue pets from the pound, shouldn’t people lovers buy their hardware after-market? Link to CBS 60 Minutes site with an informative article and graphic footage here Reuse…Save up to 90% off list price and save the environment too when you shop at UsedCisco.com By Steven Adams Product Content Manager for UsedCisco.com Sign up to receive the Green Your Network blog via email

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