“E-waste”, “electronic waste”, “e-scrap” and “end-of-life electronics” are terms often used to describe used electronics that are nearing the end of their useful life, and are discarded, donated or given to a recycler. Though “e-waste” is the commonly used term, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers e-waste to be a subset of used electronics and recognizes the inherent value of these materials that can be reused, refurbished or recycled to minimize the actual waste that might end up in a landfill or improperly disposed in an unprotected dump site either in the U.S. or abroad.
An undetermined amount of used electronics is shipped from the United States and other developed countries to developing countries that lack the capacity to reject imports or to handle these materials appropriately. Without proper standards and enforcement, improper practices may result in public health and environmental concerns, even in countries where processing facilities exist.
We have serious concerns about unsafe handling of used electronics and e-waste, in developing countries, that result in harm to human health and the environment. For example, there are problems with open-air burning and acid baths being used to recover valuable materials from electronic components, which expose workers to harmful substances. There are also problems with toxic materials leaching into the environment. These practices can expose workers to high levels of contaminants such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, which can lead to irreversible health effects, including cancers, miscarriages, neurological damage and diminished IQs.
EPA estimates that, in 2009, U.S. consumers and businesses discarded televisions, computers, cell phones and hard copy peripherals (including printers, scanners, faxes) totaling 2.37 million tons. Approximately 25 percent of these electronics were collected for recycling, with the remainder disposed of primarily in landfills, where the precious metals cannot be recovered.
Better data are needed to create a more comprehensive picture of the overall trade flows. Accurate information about the amounts, types of materials and destinations of used electronics exported will provide valuable information for the Federal government, private industry and other stakeholders. To this end, EPA funded UNU-StEP to lead a study on US exports of used electronics in an attempt to better define the US contribution to the overall e-waste problem. StEP collaborated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER). In December 2013 the final study, Quantitative Characterization of Domestic and Trans-boundary Flows of Used Electronics, was released. It presents a methodology for using existing trade data to calculate US exports and lays out challenges and options for future data-gathering efforts.
In October 2016 the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) released another study by MIT identifying the flow of electronics trade from and within North America. This study involved assessing and mapping flows of electronics, including those exported from the U.S. for recycling, reuse, and refurbishment.(1)