Developing Nations May Reuse More Electronics Than Thought
A new article in the journal Environmental Science & Technology looks at the market for reuse of exported computers and other electronics and finds that there is plenty of life in those old machines -- although e-waste exports still pose a significant environmental problem. Read More
A new article in the journal Environmental Science & Technology looks at the market for reuse of exported computers and other electronics and finds that there is plenty of life in those old machines — although e-waste exports still pose a significant environmental problem.
The study, “Product or Waste? Importation and End-of-Life Processing of Computers in Peru,” was conducted by Ramzy Kahhat and Eric Williams of the Arizona State University and looks at reuse of imported, used electronics in Peru.
The authors chose Peru for two reason: Kahhat, who is now an assistant research professor at ASU, is a Peruvian native; and that country maintains an in-depth database that tracks how many new and used computers are imported.
What the researchers found suggests that, at least in one country, imported electronics are not immediately destined for meltdown or other polluting and poisonous dismantling practices, as has been shown in China and other countries: In Peru, Williams said in an article from ACS, “At least 85 percent of discarded computers imported to Peru are reused, as opposed to going directly to recycling. [… Thus,] the image of the trade in e-waste as mainly being about dumping unusable junk is, at least for Peru, inaccurate.”
Also from the article, written by Kellyn S. Betts:
The researchers determined that once the computers entered the country, they were generally handled in a very efficient way by the country’s reuse and recycling sector in a “reverse supply chain”. In the metropolitan capital Lima, the team documented that informal and formal businesses act together to generate a “highly dynamic flow [that] reuses and recycles almost every part and material found in a computer,” Williams says.
[…] Kahhat feels that it is possible to stop the environmentally damaging practices without diluting or eliminating informal dismantling and collection. This informal reuse and recycling sector is valuable for generating employment in the country and in making computing technology more accessible to low-income families and small businesses, the paper contends.
While many responsible recycling groups want to put an end to exporting electronic waste, this study finds that there are practical benefits to exporting low-cost (but still functioning or salvageable) electronics to the developing world. One option presented involves requiring that all exported electronics be tested to ensure they work, although Williams says that such a requirement would raise the price of these electronics and could “kill off” most of the reuse industry in a country like Peru.
For more on responsible corporate e-waste policies, read Responsible Electronics Recycling: Turning Policy into Practice by Robert Houghton and E-Waste: When Landfills Are Not an Option by Sarah Fister Gale.
Computer photo CC-licensed by Flickr user guten.
