Pollution from Europe's disused electrical appliances is flooding Africa
Not long ago we heard about the pollution caused in the Ivory Coast as a result of waste brought to the port by a ship arriving from Europe, a pollution that caused the death of ten people and the hospitalization of thousands. "Developed" countries allow themselves to dispose of toxic waste to "developing" countries, despite treaties and agreements that are supposed to prevent this. The waste of electrical products is taking up a large volume in the world, as a result, the trend to dispose of electrical waste is increasing towards poor countries (in general) mainly Africa.
At the opening of a conference designed to discuss the reduction of electrical waste and its damage, a conference organized in Nairobi by the UN's Environment Program (Unep), it was said that despite the "Basel Convention" the "mountain of electrical waste" grew. Waste from electrical products is considered to be the waste that increases faster than any other type, mainly because of consumption pressure.
It is estimated that about 50 million tons of electrical products are thrown away every year. The Basel Convention, which was accepted by 160 countries and entered into force in 1992, is designed to regulate and treat all types of waste (including electrical waste). To control and prevent the transfer of toxic substances across political borders for the purpose of disposal outside the borders of the country that produced the waste.
Disposal without proper treatment of waste electrical products causes the products to be discharged to their causes and contamination with chemicals and toxins.
Below are some products that enter the environment as a result of improper handling:
tin - found in poles and alloy; Arsenic - in poles (old); Antimony oxide - combustion delay; Polybromide - flame retardant in plastic containers and insulation; Selenium - found in panels / power circuits and rectifiers; Cadmium - in panels, electric circuits and semiconductors; Chromium - to prevent corrosion; Cobalt - for stabilizing metals and magnetizing,
Mercury - found in electrical circuit breakers. This is therefore an impressive list of heavy metals and toxins that originate from electrical products.
A significant place in the production of electrical waste is occupied by: computers, cell phones and various gadgets. The cost that goes down (each generation) and the speed with which devices become obsolete, adds every year large quantities of devices that must be disposed of, traditionally a large part of the waste found its way to India and China, but the control in India and China is tightening and thus the waste is directed to Africa.
In the inspection it was found that 100,000 computers enter Lagos (Nigeria) every year. If these were high-quality computers (even used) it would be positive, but it turns out that over 75% of the "imports" are devices that do not work. The same goes for television sets and cell phones, which means that most of the "imports" are electrical waste. Since this waste ends up in landfills and landfills are constantly burning, all those devices burn and spread toxins in the air, soil and water. Probably because this was the reason for the poisoning in Ivory Coast.
In order to prevent damage from electrical waste, the conference organizers intend to call for the tightening of supervision of the "waste travels in the world",
Since there are many countries that have not yet confirmed their commitment to the Basel Convention, the countries are called to join. At the top of the list of non-commitments called to commit... USA!
Dr. Assaf Rosenthal, tour guide/leader in Africa and South America.
For details, tel. 0505640309 / 077-6172298,
Email assaf@eilatcity.co.il
