Charity calls for goverment to clamp down on illegal e-waste dumping

 

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Posted on 23 Sep 2008 at 15:07

Computer Aid is calling for the national government to clamp down on the UK's electrical waste (e-waste) being exported and dumped in developing countries. The charity has launched a petition calling for the government to step up its efforts to stamp out illegal dumping in countries such as Nigeria, Ghana and China.

Computer Aid wants the government's Environment Agency to be granted the resources to effectively police the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.

The charity also hit out at commercial traders actively abusing re-use and recycling initiatives, and PC manufacturers that shirk responsibility for their equipment dumped in developing countries.

"National newspaper expos?and reports from both Greenpeace and Consumers International clearly demonstrate the extent of the e-waste problem, and serve to highlight the limitations of the current legislative framework for e-waste," said Louise Richards, Computer Aid CEO.

"According to Consumers International, in Nigeria alone more than half a million second-hand PCs arrive in Lagos every month, yet only one in four works."

She said that the Environment Agency needs to be provided with the resources to police e-waste. She wants the agency to prosecute anyone involved in a supply chain that results in the dumping of e-waste and remove licences from organisations in breach of the WEEE legislation.

"It's imperative that the government clamps down on fraudulent traders posing as legitimate re-use and recycling organisations, who are enticing unwitting UK businesses to use them for disposal of electrical equipment."

The charity claims the high volume of environmentally unsound e-waste is driven almost exclusively by the motive of profit, however the cost is borne by the environment and the children who disassemble the equipment.

Computer Aid also claims that existing legislation fails to hold manufacturers accountable if their products are found dumped in developing countries. Meanwhile, Tony Roberts, founder and director of International Programmes, urged producers to take responsibility for the products they are placing into the global market.

"Under the Producer Pays principle of the WEEE directive, producers of electrical equipment are responsible for funding the end of life recycling of equipment within the European Union, but no such legislation exists for the millions of electronic products sold in Africa, Latin America and Asia," he said.

He reckons producers should be made to accept the principle on a global scale, and take responsibility for the safe recycling of products in developing countries.

Roberts said manufacturers also need to consider the design of their products so that they can reduce their use of hazardous substances in the manufacturing process, and make them easier to recycle.

Author: Theo Salvador