Developing Countries Urged to Stop Accepting Toxic Waste
by Francine Hardaway on July 1st, 2008
The United Nations is reporting that one of the major reasons poorer countries are importing toxic waste, such as old computers and pesticides, is for a short term monetary gain to lift themselves out of poverty.
Countries are sacrificing the dangers to human health and the environment to turn a profit accepting others’ waste, even though the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal created in 1989 aimed to cut down exporting of hazardous products.
The U.N. will revisit the convention over the next few days to see how this issue can be addressed. One suggestion is to boost funding to the convention’s 14 regional centers that provide technical support and training to poor nations.
An outright ban on exporting is being opposed by countries including the U.S., who argue that developing nations are benefiting from the value of metals that can be recycled from electronics.
The Environmental Protection Agency has developed a new site to explain international import/export laws for hazardous waste.
Want to keep your electronics from being exported? Use Earth 911 to find a qualified electronic recycler or event in your area.
8:47 am on July 2nd, 2008
Yes, I agree with the arguement.
Now-a-days the use of electronic gadgets increased in a thousand fold and this results in spoiling our mother earth.
Every one wants to buy a new computer or a mobile phone without much knowledge about the material that is used to manufacture it. naturally, once the device is used it must be thrown away unmindful of the side effects it can cause to the environment.
I request the manufacturers to use material that can be recycled.
STITHA PRAGNA
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