Rising tide of electronic waste prompts warning from UN official as conference opens

Developing countries are bearing the brunt of a rising global tide of electronic waste, from obsolete computers and televisions to defunct mobile phones, the top United Nations environmental official warned today as he called for concerted action to tackle the problem.

In a speech in Nairobi to the opening of a week-long conference on the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner said the products being discarded carry a wide range of dangerous pollutants, from heavy metals to chlorine compounds.

“Unless we get to grips with this, we are always going to be like the proverbial dog chasing its tail,” Mr. Steiner said, adding that much of the material being dumped originates in affluent nations and then ends up in rubbish tips or landfill sites in the developing world.

He cited a recent article which showed that at least 100,000 computers are arriving in the port of Lagos, the Nigerian commercial capital, every month.

“If these were good quality, second-hand pieces of equipment, this would perhaps be a positive trade of importance for development,” he said. “But local experts estimate between a quarter to 75 per cent of these items… are defunct.”

The conference will hold a forum on Thursday examining electronic waste – also known as E-waste – as statistics indicate that about 20 to 50 million metric tones of the rubbish, or 5 per cent of all municipal solid waste, are generated every year around the world.

In the United States alone, an estimated 14 to 20 million personal computers are thrown out each year, while developing nations are expected to triple their output of all electronic waste by 2010.

Calling for progress on recycling projects and “take-back schemes,” Mr. Steiner welcomed the emergence of public-private partnerships, such as one where mobile phone companies are refurbishing old phones and selling them to developing countries with guarantees and at reasonable prices.

“These kinds of partnerships are important steps forward. But we know there is a lot more than needs to be done.”

Some 120 governments are participants in the week-long conference, which is the eighth of its kind to deal with the Basel Convention.