E-waste in Guiyu, ChinaChan Riki Endo1K1310035 December, 2014

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“Electronic graveyard”

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Background• 150,000 workers disassembling and scavenging parts from

computers and other electronics which are reused or sold

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Background• Computers, wires, cables, and others scattered around town• Specialist picks parts and disassembles

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Background• Workers burn circuit boards over coal fires to melt lead solder

and to separate metals

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Background• Plastics are burned and melted• Microchips are dropped into sulfuric acid bath to get gold and

silver

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Health Risks• Air not safe to breath, water not safe to drink• Stream is black and acidic enough to disintegrate penny in few

hours• Greenpeace tested ground and water samples• Found over 10 poisonous metals• Lead, mercury, tin, aluminum, cadmium

• Water is poisonous so drinking water is trucked in

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Health Risks• Guiyu has highest level of dioxin in the world• Chance of miscarriage is 6 times higher• 7 out of 10 children born with 50% more lead in their blood• 88% suffer from neurological, respiratory, or digestive

abnormalities, or skin disease• Rice is grown in the area• Farmer doesn’t dare eat the rice he grows• High rates of cadmium found in rice in Guangzhou city (400km

away)

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Why do workers continue?• Average worker gets $8 per day• 5 times higher than previous job as laborer or farmer

• No other industries in the area• More freedom than in factory lines• Complaining that government is restricting flow of foreign

electronic waste• Hurting their business

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Recycling?• 60 minute crew followed a container from a Denver recycling

company• Contained CRT monitors which were sold to Guiyu• People pay recycling companies to take their electronics• Recycling companies sell the old electronics to China• Recycling companies also get tax breaks for being “green”

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Shut down?• China bans import of electronic waste, but local governments

get a lot of revenue from it through tax and tariff• Industries buy scavenged material due to raw material

shortage in China• Guiyu’s economy depends on it• 150,000 workers would be unemployed

• Guiyu makes $75 million per year by processing 1.5 million tons of waste

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Solutions• “The biggest responsibility lies in the developed countries that

export e-waste”• Chinese professor

• In 2011, U.S. threw away 130,000 computers everyday and 100,000,000 mobile phones annually

• China slowed import and smuggling of electronic waste but China’s develop causing rapid increase in its own waste

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Solutions• Greenpeace is pressuring electronics firms to use less

dangerous chemicals to make it safer to recycle• Also asking consumers to think twice when changing mobile

phones or other gadgets

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Bibliography• Chung, Chien-Ming. "China's E-Waste City." VQR. University of

Virginia, 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2014. <http://www.vqronline.org/vqr-gallery/china%E2%80%99s-e-waste-city>.

• Watson, Ivan. "China: The Electronic Wastebasket of the World." CNN. Cable News Network, 31 May 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2014. <http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/30/world/asia/china-electronic-waste-e-waste/>.

• "Electronic Waste Dump of the World: Guiyu, China." Sometimes Interesting. Word Press, 17 July 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2014. <http://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/07/17/electronic-waste-dump-of-the-world/>.

• "Guiyu: An E-Waste Nightmare." Greenpeace East Asia. Greenpeace, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/campaigns/toxics/problems/e-waste/guiyu/>.

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