on this Rooftop in East Delhi recycling workers are burning circuit boards to strip off computer chips and transistors all the time they are inhaling noxious fumes highly hazardous heavy metals such as lead Mercury and cadmium the main ingredients of computer boards Saleem has been burning computer parts for the last few years he says the toxic fumes bother his eyes sometimes on the floor below Mei Hass runs an electronic w waste recycling business from his bedroom come office the room also serves as a warehouse for obsolete electronic equipment waiting to be taken apart outside his bedroom
workers are stripping whatever Parts they can resell for India's growing e-w recycling Market Dr Kevin Brigden Greenpeace scientist at a biochemical Lab at the University of exitor in in the UK has recently analyzed dust soil ashes and Wastewater from the workshops and their surrounding areas in India and China his scientific analysis shows that the collected samples contain high levels of hazardous chemicals we found high levels of contamination both on site where the materials being processed and in the immediate environments around there um this consisted of a whole range of organic chemicals as well as many
heavy metals in fact these were some of the most contaminated samples that have been through our laboratory in the last few years electronic waste or E-Waste is one of the fastest growing VTE streams around the world today it is fueled by the exponential growth of personal computers in the market and by their rapid rate of obsolesence today today the highly toxic content of electronic equipment is posing a threat to human health and the environment in India reusable computer parts and precious metals such as copper silver and gold are highly prized the precious material is copper
copper has got a highest value in India and throughout the world and how to separate it is just just they are burning it and this Burning of burning causes pollution and it is hazardous in this recycling shop workers dip circuit boards and electric cables into plastic drums full of acid the bubbles from the acid are stripping the cables of their last remnants of copper and traces of silver when the acid is depleted the men dump it into the open sewer in the area others burn wires coated with polyany chloride or PVC to Salvage the copper
within the residents say large piles of PVC Co wires are burned here a few times a month in this open field where children play cricket they say a huge cloud of toxic smoke containing organic chemicals such as brominated flame retardant and pcbs covers the school next to the playground jeopardizing the health of these children cathode ray tubes or CRTs and computer monitors contain high levels of poisonous lead the workers coat lead powder over used CR before shipping them off to the secondhand Market computer batteries like the ones this child is chopping contain highly toxic cadmium
Dr Brigden says these chemicals cause devastating effects on the workers's health well the heavy metals we found have a range of toxic effects metals like lead and Mercury are particularly toxic to the nervous system primarily on the developing nervous system in children and effects have been seen even at low levels things like affecting the IQ of children heavy metals like cadmium are toxic to the kidneys and the effects will accumulate over time with um ongoing exposures the organic chemicals we found many of them are bioaccumulative they will build up in human tissues and many have
been linked with effects on the hormone system and other neurological impacts while India emerges as a technology Powerhouse poverty cheap labor and rampant corruption make it a prime market for The Dumping and burning of electronic waste in Europe and the United States recycling a computer can cost as much as $20 but in India it costs just $2 us India's low recycling cost attracts e-w from the United States Europe East in Southeast Asia and from the Middle East environmentalists say manufacturers are responsible by using hazardous chemicals in their products that harm workers in recycling yards and
their environment all the multinationals and the corporation they have to Fed out the chemicals from their the products so that we have the cleaner product and easy to recycle uh and and also they have to have take back policy uh so that this discarded product doesn't uh ended up in in the street of the Delhi none of these women know the potential danger the toxic chemicals from these electronic parts posed to their health despite the ban on imports from developed countries East continues to pour into India to be recycled for its cheap labor and the
profit generated by the the e-w recycling industry environmentalists say it is possible to substitute the Hazardous chemicals with safer Alternatives multinational corporations such as Sony Samsung Nokia LG and Sony Ericson have already committed to use less hazardous material in their products manufacturers could very well prevent workers from being exposed to hazardous chemicals in the e workshops in East [Music] Delhi
