Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Burning old TVs to survive: The toxic trade in electrical waste
Electronic waste, or e-waste is discarded electric products like computers, mobile phones, home appliances, and medical equipment. Over 60 million tons of e-waste was generated in 2022, only 15% of which is estimated to have been recycled because of its complex composition, including toxic chemicals, metals, and plastics. The rest of the waste was stored in homes and warehouses, dumped, and illegally exported to developing countries in Southeast Asia and Africa. When trafficked e-waste is burnt or dumped, the plastic and metals that are contained in the e-waste become hazardous to human health and the environment. However, since e-waste streams contain valuable and finite resources that can be reused, poor people, especially women and children, try to extract valuable metals like copper and gold from e-waste in highly toxic and polluted dump sites. Customs authorities are trying to stop illegal e-waste shipments but traffickers make false customs declarations, conceal e-waste by blending it with other waste, or even dump it into the sea.
Read the article and learn what e-waste does to humans, animals, and the environment.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gvq1rd0geo
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