This week for my research I read about where electronic waste actually ends up, and how it gets there. One article I read called Where does America’s e-waste end up? GPS tracker tells all on PBS news hour discusses geolocating tracking devices that were stored in old computers, TVs and printers before sending them to donation centers.
An organization partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and put 200 geolocating tracking devices inside machines that were strategically sent to nationwide donation centers, recyclers, and electronic take-back programs which advertise themselves as “green”, “sustainable”, “earth friendly, and “environmentally responsible.” The data they collected showed that 1/3 of the electronics went overseas, even as far as 12,000 miles which included 6/14 trackers that were dropped off in Washington and Oregon. Other trackers ended in Mexico, Taiwan, China, Pakistan, Thailand, Dominican Republic, Canada, and Kenya. Most traveled across the Pacific to Hong Kong.
Puckett then traveled to Hong Kong where the GPS trackers say they are located, called the New Territories, an agricultural area along the border with mainland China. Along the way they passed several steam trucks carrying shipping containers from the port. When he got closer to the destination they heard power drills and shattering glass coming from the other side of a high metal wall made from old shipping containers. The journalist that Puckett teamed up with knocked on the gate and said hey wanted to fill a shipping container with printers to refurbish and sell in Pakistan, and the worker opened the door.
Behind the door workers were dismantling LCD Tvs. The ground that they were standing on is filled with broken white tubes. The fluorescent lamps were made to light up flat screens, however when they break they release invisible mercury vapor into the air. A minuscule amount of mercury can be a neurotoxin.
Workers had no idea of the risk that they’re in by being around these toxic chemicals. New Territories used to only be a pass-through for smuggled e-waste, but the Chinese government cracked down on whole electronic imports so now they’re doing the processing there.