GUIYU: AN E- WASTE NIGHTMARE

E-GRAVEYARD

■Here the world's old and unwanted electronic products, such as computers, mobile phones, hairdryers and television sets come to die.

■Most are stripped of valuable metals, such as gold or copper, before being given their final rest. Those still functioning well get a second lease of life as second-hand goods.

■About 70 per cent of all global e-waste - defined as any device with an electric cord or battery - make their way to China through nearby Hong Kong or Guangdong's capital Guangzhou. Most end up in Guiyu, the largest of several e-waste dumping sites that include Taizhou city in eastern Zhejiang province.

■According to media reports, some 1.6 million tonnes of e-waste pass through Guiyu yearly, with recycling worth 3.7 billion yuan (S$818 million) annually. Used electronic products reportedly began arriving from the mid-1990s and accumulated into massive landfills in Guiyu.

■At its peak in the early 2000s, the town's 5,000 workshops were recycling 15,000 tonnes of e-waste daily.

■Recycling is encouraged in China, as it is with many other countries, but the problem is how it has been done in Guiyu, which uses primitive methods that threaten the workers' health and the local environment.

■People work bare hand

just in the street, releasing large amounts of pollutants, heavy metals and chemicals into the rivers nearby, severely contaminating local water supplies, devastating farm

SOLVATION

■Major electronics firms should stop

using hazardous chemicals to make their products safer and easier to recycle. All companies

must take full responsibility for their products and take back their old products back for re-use, safe recycling or disposal. We are pressuring major electronic makers to reduce the toxicity and amount of e-waste being

"AT LEAST WE'RE TRYING OUR BEST, WHICH IS BETTER THAN DOING NOTHING AT ALL"

Dr Du Huanzheng