toxic e-waste dumps in India
While businesses see Bangalore as a technology hub, environmentalists
claim India is the world’s dumping ground for old computers. And this
is threatening the health of some of the country’s most vulnerable
people.
India’s poor work dismantling PCs, not realising the health risks
Most of our discarded computers will end up in a huge pile. But
India’s pile of past-it PCs is larger than most.
This year the country will import more than 4.5 million new computers,
plus many second-hand ones with shorter lifespans. It is known as
electronic or e-waste.
The trickle down from the computer hardware boom has reached those
surviving on less than a dollar a day, with potentially disastrous
consequences.
In the cities, India’s poor scrape a living by breaking down PCs and
monitors. They boil, crush or burn parts in order to extract valuable
materials like gold or platinum.
But what they do not realise is that the toxic chemicals inside like
cadmium and lead can pose serious health risks.
