An article summary

The waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), also known as e-waste, with 20 to 50m tones per year is one of the fastest growing types of hazardous waste is the world. This e-waste is classified as hazardous because of the high presence of toxic ingredients and heavy metals extremely harmful to human health.

Greenpeace analyzes this problem in the "Toxic Tech: Not in Our Backyard" report and gives some guidelines about how manufacturers and governments should address it.

In fact, the e-waste is not the biggest problem but the high percentage of it that escapes responsible collection, reuse and recycling systems and results in the so called "hidden flows". This e-waste flows go from developed countries to undeveloped ones like China and India legally (e-waste exports legal in the US) or illegally (e-waste exports illegal in the EU). In this countries, informal recyclers try to recover valuable raw materials exposing themselves to this dangerous and toxic waste.

On one side Greenpeace recommends undeveloped countries governments to support the more efficient and environmental friendly formal recyclers against the huge informal sector that can easily collect an enormous amount of end-of-life products paying little regards on human health. On the other side they demand developed countries governments more control on e-waste exports, better collecting and recycling systems and laws forceing EEE manufacturers to take financial responsibility of the entire lifecycle of their products.

Greenpeace also encourages the mayor electric and electronic equipment manufacturers to use safer materials and designs on their products and also to take responsibility of their entire lifecycle.