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Have you ever wondered where old computers and other toxic waste end up?

E-waste is thought to be the fastest growing part of municipal waste in the developed world.
The world's richest nations are dumping hazardous electronic waste on poor African countries says the head of the UN's Environment Programme.
UNEP estimates that up to 50 million tones of waste from discarded electronic goods is generated annually. 90% of the computers are just junk. They just don't work. This is dumping!

Warehouse complex in Port Apapa in Lagos is handling up to 40 container loads each month. Have also several dumps, spread around the city. Lagos has no computer recycling facilities itself, and so the waste computers build up in huge piles.

In Ghana the piles of old computers are increasing every week even though the trade is illegal. In large areas of this dump the ground is no longer brown earth, it is a carpet of broken plastic. Thick black smoke blows across the site seven days a week. In order to retrieve the valuable copper from the cables, the plastic coating is burnt off and old car tyres are thrown on to the flames to keep the fires burning.

But what is not so visible poses a greater danger.
Illegal toxic waste dumping in Ivory Coast has led to at least ten deaths and renewed calls from environmentalists for tighter controls over international waste shipments. Tons of poisonous chemical sludge were dumped at various sites around the port city of Abidjan.



Burning, a common disposal method, releases toxic fumes and leaches chemicals such as barium and mercury into the soil. Soil and water samples from the scrap market have found high concentrations of leads, plastic softeners and dioxins that are known to promote cancer. Improper disposal of e-waste can also release hazardous chemicals and heavy metals into the environment.

1: Lead (in cathode ray tube and solder ) damages nervous system, blood system, kidneys
2: Arsenic( in older cathode ray tubes) poison
3: Berylium responsible for lung cancer
4: Mercury (in switches and housing) brain damage
5: Cadmium (in circuit boards and semiconductors) affects kidneys and bones
6: Chromium (in steel as corrosion protection) damage DNA
7: Cobalt (in steel for structure and magnetivity) radioactive



As waste management has become globalised, countries with civilian unrest, no environmental law enforcement, or weak legislative frameworks have become prime targets for illegitimate hazardous-waste dealers, the groups contend.
"We need to shine a brighter light on hazardous wastes - where they come from and where they end up,"
Waste dumps pose a pollution threat to the environment and to people. Take action to prevent toxic, electronic or "e" waste being dumped on poor countries.
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