Axis of Logic
Finding Clarity in the 21st Century Mediaplex

World News
Dumped in Africa: Britain's toxic waste
By Cahal Milmo
The Independent.co.uk
Thursday, Feb 19, 2009

Tonnes of toxic waste collected from British municipal dumps is being sent illegally  to Africa in flagrant breach of this country’s obligation to ensure its rapidly  growing mountain of defunct televisions, computers and gadgets are disposed of  safely.


Market scavenger boy, Alaba market, Lagos, Nigeria.  Basel Action Network 2005



Hundreds of thousands of discarded items, which under British law must be dismantled  or recycled by specialist contractors, are being packaged into cargo containers and  shipped to countries such as Nigeria and Ghana, where they are stripped of their raw  metals by young men and children working on poisoned waste dumps.

In a joint investigation by The Independent, Sky News, and Greenpeace, a television  that had been broken beyond repair was tracked to an electronics market in Lagos,  Nigeria, after being left at a civic amenity site in Basingstoke run by Hampshire  Country Council. Under environmental protection laws It was classified as hazardous  waste and should never have left the UK.

Basel Action Network has an in-depth report and video. This is a link to the report:
The Digital Dump- Exporting Re-Use and Abuse to Africa



The television, fitted with a satellite tracking device, was bought by a London-based  dealer, one of dozens of operators buying up a significant proportion of the  estimated 940,000 tonnes of domestic electronic waste, or e-waste, produced in the UK  each year and sending it for export.

Investigators bought back the television after a 4,500-mile journey from Tilbury  Docks in Essex to the giant Alaba electronics market in Lagos, where up to 15  shipping containers of discarded electronics from Europe and Asia arrive every day.  At least a third of the contents of each container is broken beyond use and  transferred to dumps where waste pickers scavenge amid a cocktail of burning heavy  metals and dioxins. The television is just one example of a broader problem with the  enforcement of the legislation, which permits the export of functioning equipment but  prohibits broken electronic goods from being sent outside the EU to a country with a  developing economy.

Such is the confused state of the recycling industry, with some local authorities  collating figures on the amount of waste being exported and others simply handing the  task to sub-contractors, that the e-waste body representing the electronics industry  admits abuse is widespread.


Claire Snow, the director of the Industry Council for Equipment Recycling (ICER),  told The Independent: “It is clear that the system for collecting equipment which UK  householders have thrown away is not working as well as it should.

“On the pretext of re-use, equipment which is clearly not suitable for any type of  re-use is effectively being dumped in developing countries.”



Boy hired to haul electronic scrap from Alaba market in Lagos, Nigeria to this nearby informal dump sitting on a swamp. Imported scrap televisions and computers that could not be repaired get deposited and burned. Basel Action Network 2005



Government figures show that 450,000 tonnes of e-waste is currently being treated in  accordance with Britain’s waste electronic and electrical equipment laws, which place  a responsibility on manufacturers to meet the environmental cost. But with the  average Briton throwing away four pieces of e-waste every year, approximately 500,000  tonnes is going unaccounted for. Industry research seen by The Independent estimates  that at least 10,000 tonnes of waste televisions and 23,000 tonnes of computers  classified as hazardous waste are being illegally exported as part of a wider e-waste  market worth “tens of millions of pounds”.

Campaigners say dealers offering around £3 for a television and £1 for a computer  monitor to waste sites are undercutting specialist recycling companies, creating a  “grey market”.

Britain is responsible for around 15 per cent of the EU’s total e-waste, which is  growing three times faster than any other muncipal waste stream.

Martin Hojsik, toxics campaigner for Greenpeace International, said: "Companies can  stop this illegal toxic trade now by ensuring their goods are free from hazardous  components. It is critical they and governments take full responsibility for the safe  recycling of their products and put an end to the growing e-waste dumps that are  poisoning people."

Bosses at Hampshire County Council last night launched an inquiry into its waste  sites but insisted it and its household waste site contractor, Hopkins Recycling,  only used dealers who exported functional equipment.

A spokesman for Consumers International, which is campaigning for tightened e-waste  controls, said: “The sight of children scavenging toxic wastelands overflowing with  the West’s unwanted computers and televisions makes a mockery of international bans  to prevent the dumping of e-waste. Western governments, including the UK, have shown  little desire to deal with the root cause of this problem.”

The Independent.co.uk

Basel Action Network has more.
(Scroll down just a bit for links to reports, photos, and film options.)