- Friday, 27 November 2009
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One finger in the throat and one in the rectum makes a good diagnostician - Sir William Osler
US company’s unsafe waste disposal exposed
SHOCKINGLY – or not as the case may be – some major US companies have been exposed as filthy fibbers.
That’s right, US companies which claim to be all green by using environmental recycling to get rid of electronic waste – wait for it – actually aren’t.
If that didn’t shock you this certainly will... the company’s in question are actually dumping their waste – which includes mobile phones, old computers and televisions – in other countries such as China and India where disposal in this way is dangerous to people as well as the environment.
This despicable information comes from a report issued by the Government Accountability Office today which claims, among other things, that the US Environmental Protection Agency is doing a rubbish job.
America's harmful waste regulations have not deterred exports of potentially hazardous used electronics according to the GAO which outlines three main reasons for this in the report.
Existing EPA regulations focus specifically on cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) and the safe disposal of these, and companies have found cunning ways to get around the CRT rule and of course, the EPA’s enforcement is lacking any kind of… well, force.
The GAO also found that the dismantling of these electronics was unsafe, using open-air incineration and acid baths to extract valuable metals.
Bad as this is, it seems like little can be done to stop it. The GAO suggests that beyond reinforcing the CRT rule, the EPA should concentrate far more on the safe disposal of the other universe of harmful electronics being dumped all over the Asian countryside.
For the last shocker of the day, we bring you the EPA’s response which claims that a "complete and balanced picture of the agency’s electronic waste program" had not been outlined in the report - although, to be honest, I think we’ve probably heard enough. µ
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So which companies are on the list?
Which companies? Then I'd at least have a name to drop while I shake my fist at the sky.
Name some names.
I thought that per tonne of stuff had more gold and what not, than a tonne of ore.
Don't most of these products originate in most of these countries?
Any big names caught up in this ?
Did you forget to write the actual names? If you're encouraging us to hate on certain companies, which I was fully prepared to do a couple of minutes ago, please take the time to TELL US WHO THE HELL WE'RE SUPPOSED TO HATE!!!

(Sorry if that seemed over the top, it was meant to be humorous more than anything else.)
"... the company’s in question are actually dumping their waste – which includes mobile phones, old computers and televisions – in other countries such as China and India "...

I fail to see the problem here. If these countries are accepting the waste, then it's THEIR problem. I doubt very much that the US companies are hiring ships to take the waste over there and just dump it without permission.

Besides all this, I really doubt this type of waste is really the "problem" they claim it to be. True, it may be hazardous, but definitely no more hazardous than many other things our societies MUST live with such as cigarrette smoke, smoke from factories, the "more traditional" waste from factories that is dumped into water and buried in land, etc. THOSE are far worse, in my opinion.
They're all us, us, us. And don't really care about the world while claiming everything. Palin don't even believe in global warming... come on their selfishness is harming others who don't know the dangers of being exposed to these chemicles and what not.

Most of these will probably be dealt by children with no protection, gloves etc. People in india and china don't even care for their own let alone others, remember the 6 thousand babies in china and the powder milk.... come on these people will sell their own mothers for money/cash. The miteralistic retards with no reguard for human life. And the U.S contributing to that.

The third world people are desperate they'll do anything and dumb fat selfish americans don't give a toss. To them is all their profits so even though they have means to safely dispose and recycle these items they can't be bothered to spend time equals money.

Somehow an american childs life is more precious then any other in the world. And for that mentality the big guy up there is surely dealing with them finantually or otherwise.

These people are dying to commence WW3 so it's good for the credit crunch, keeps everyone a little quiet. And not so much like a bull with them sharpened horns.

Jon.

Yes, exploitation of third-world countries is indeed their problem, not ours. Sheesh... Go jump off a cliff.
Talk about poisoning the well, my company has never dumped anything, anywhere. We dismantle computers and sell the pieces to buyers who actually want to use them. And if we ever do come up with a "bulk" of completely useless hardware, we'll be forced to sell it, not bribe someone to dump it.