Downloaded 128 times
More Related Content
Similar to E waste in guiyu, china
E waste in guiyu, china
- 1. E-waste in Guiyu, China ChanRiki Endo 1K131003 5 December, 2014 1
- 2.
- 3. Background • 150,000 workersdisassembling and scavenging parts from computers and other electronics which are reused or sold 3http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/guiyu-3.jpg
- 4. Background • Computers, wires,cables, and others scattered around town • Specialist picks parts and disassembles 4 http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/guiyu-7.jpg
- 5.
- 6. Background • Workers burncircuit boards over coal fires to melt lead solder and to separate metals 6 http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/guiyu-11.jpg
- 7. Background • Plastics areburned and melted • Microchips are dropped into sulfuric acid bath to get gold and silver 7http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/guiyu-22.jpg
- 8. Health Risks • Airnot 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 8
- 9.
- 10. Health Risks • Guiyuhas 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) 10
- 11.
- 12. Why do workerscontinue? • 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 12
- 13. Recycling? • 60 minutecrew 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” 13
- 14. Shut down? • Chinabans 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 14
- 15. Solutions • “The biggestresponsibility 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 15
- 16. Solutions • Greenpeace ispressuring 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 16http://sometimesinteresting.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/guiyu-2.jpg
- 17. 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/>. 17