Unless proper electronic-waste recycling is established in
developing countries, they will face serious environmental and
public health consequences, a United Nations report says. The
urgency in addressing e-waste disposal is driven by the sharp
rise in sales of electronic products expected over the next 10
years in countries like China and India, across continents such
as Africa, and over large regions including Latin America, the
U.N. said. Such imports are expected to add millions of tons of
e-waste in regions where recycling efforts are inadequate to
handle even current e-waste levels. For example, most e-waste in
China is improperly handled today, with much of it incinerated
by backyard recyclers to recover valuable metals like gold. Such
practices release steady plumes of toxic pollution and yield
very low metal recovery rates compared to state-of-the-art
industrial facilities. While such grossly inadequate recycling
efforts are not being properly addressed, the mountain of
e-waste that exists today is