E-waste must be managed better: Experts
- 13 September, 2011 08:41
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Electronic waste is a global time bomb and regulations must be tightened to prevent toxic contamination from mobile phones, computers and other electronic goods, experts say.
Looking at ways to stop toxic contamination harming health and the environment is the focus of a CleanUp 2011 conference in Adelaide attended by scientists around the world.
Professor Ming Hung Wong, from Hong Kong Baptist University, said "e-waste" had become a global problem.
"If fact a global time bomb," the professor told an Australian science media briefing.
He thinks existing laws should be strengthened and enforced and loopholes for the managing of waste closed.
Recyclers can take advantage of cheaper overseas wages in developing countries and potentially lower standards in some countries for dealing with chemical contaminants, he said.
Primitive techniques are being used to dismantle or burn electronic waste in some countries and children are getting sick playing on toxic sites with spare parts, he said.
Professor Ravi Naidu, of the CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, said there are 160,000 potentially contaminated sites in Australia, most in urban areas.
It costs about $2 billion a year to manage them and clean up and rain can cause them to leach into groundwater, spreading the problem.
"Most chemicals are not just sitting there," he said.
"Ground water remediation can be very, very expensive."
Professor Paul Nathanail, of the University of Nottingham, says the public should be educated about the risk of electronic waste to children.
"Ultimately the responsibility should be with the consumer, but being practical it has to stay with, if not the manufacturer, then the retailer who is going to sell you the next palm computer to accept your old one back in."
He said the mechanisms are there to do that, and in Western Europe at least the consumer is willing to play a premium to make sure the waste is handled correctly.
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