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Recently, some states in the US developed policies banning CRTs from landfills due to the fear that the heavy metals contained in the glass would eventually leach into ground-water. Circuit boards also contain considerable quantities of lead-tin solders
and are even more likely to leach into ground-water or become air pollution if managed in an incinerator. Indeed, a policy of "diversion from landfill" has been the driver for legislation in many states requiring higher and higher volumes of E-waste to be collected and processed separately from the solid waste stream.

Today, the E-waste recycling business is a big and rapidly consolidating business. Unfortunately, increased regulation of E-waste and concern over the environmental harm, which can result from toxic E-waste, has raised disposal costs. This has had the unforeseen effect of providing brokers and others calling themselves recyclers with an incentive to export the E-waste to developing countries. This form of toxic trade was first exposed by the Basel Action Network (BAN) in their 2002 report and film entitled "Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia".

Exporting Harm placed a spotlight on the global dumping of electronic waste, primarily from North America in a township area of China known as Guiyu. To this day in Guiyu, thousands of men, women and children are employed, in highly polluting, primitive recycling technologies, extracting the metals, toners, and plastics from computers and other E-waste. United States has not ratified the Basel Convention or the Basel Ban Amendment, and has no domestic laws forbidding the export of toxic waste. According to BAN estimates, about 80 per cent of the E-waste directed to recycling in the US does not get recycled there at all, but is put on container ships and sent to countries such as China.

Exporting E-toxic wastes to third world countries could be quite embarrassing but convenient solution for USA and Canada. Very simple rationale: Easy to smuggle the sources of wastes and utter, "Unexplained Losses"; Cost of transporting is meager to the costs / risks in living with toxic pollutants; Could keep its Landfills toxic-waste-free and meeting the US-EPA clean-up and health standards. The export is done under the banner of "Recycling E-Waste" technology as a trend-setting environ-trade. Recycling needs to be done at high-cost under protective conditions, that it doesn't impair the health/environ conditions of the recycler. But the third world country recyclers are just happy enough to do 'any' Foreign-Based Business. It's easy for them to eyewash their governments and do things as carelessly as possible. Apparently, they waive-off the standards of recycling-technology and pollute themselves.

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Dr. Gursharan Singh Kainth started his career as Lecturer at Post Graduate Dept. of Economics, Government College, Gurdaspur, and later at Khalsa College; Amritsar, specializes in Quantitative & Development Economics. Has the distinction of serving Punjab Agricultural Univ, Ludhiana, for more than 2 decades and remained Director-Principal of Saint Soldier Management & Technical Institute, Jalandhar. Currently, heading GAD Institute of Development Studies, Amritsar, a self-financed research institute. Has been honoured with various awards, including Guru Draunacharya Samman, Vijay Rattan Award, etc.
Article posted on February 22, 2009.