need to add title here

The Wasteland

August 30, 2009 4:19 PM

Where does all the electronic refuse our society generates end up? Some of it is shipped illegally from the U.S. to China, reports Scott Pelley, where it is harming the environment and people.

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by hpatterson October 26, 2009 11:20 AM EDT
I just bought a new iPod Nano. I was so pissed to discover that my older iPod speakers wouldn't charge the new Nano. I am not about to drop another $100 on new speakers if the old ones work perfectly fine. Thank you Apple for catapulting us into this mess.
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by Helicon2112 September 29, 2009 1:54 AM EDT
That's just great. Yet another thing to make our country look bad in the eyes of the world. This type of behavior only serves to give Obama another reason to take more control over US companies who act irresponsibly and continue to portray our country in a negative light all because of exective greed. People won't stop until our country is put 6 feet under by terrorists who hate us because of acts like this, but by then it'll be too late. People need to wake up and look at the big picture.
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by Tripflare September 28, 2009 9:55 AM EDT
outstanding investigative reporting and follow through
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by StanSalot September 23, 2009 4:29 PM EDT
After reading the comments from Alex Hofford above I thought I would add this.

While I am just as concerned about the issues of e-waste mismanagement in China, India, Africa, Mexico and other parts of the world, addressing the source of the problem is the only way to really have a long term impact.

Under my leadership, an International Certification Program was developed in 2005 that certifies Manufacturing Companies that demonstrate the reduction and/or elimination of Hazardous Substances used in Electrical and Electronic Products. This includes the materials used in packaging, shipping and the production process. More than 1900 manufacturing companies have thus far demonstrated their compliance through 3rd party technical assessments. The program known as IECQ HSPM Certification is growing worldwide with China and Taiwan Manufactures leading the way.

I am sorry to say that the USA is the slowest country to give this program favorable consideration even though the program was created here in America by Americans. The most common reason given by industry for rejecting the program is cost. In reality the program is saving countless dollars for the companies that have embraced it.

American consumers have the power to change this devastating situation by demanding that the products that they purchase are produced by companies that have IECQ HSPM Certification. This would drive industry worldwide to build Hazardous Substance Free products and demonstrate their compliance through an established network of accredited independent certification bodies.

In the United States this program is administered by a Not For Profit organization, The Electronic Component Certification Board. They operate under the authority of the American National Standards Institution, (ANSI) and the United State National Council to the International Electro-Technical Commission for Quality, (IECQ).

For more information please visit the ECCB.org web site.
Or
IECQ HSPM Documentary by Quality Digest Introducing the IECQ HSPM GREEN Manufacturing Certification Program. The documentary will be presented in monthly segments beginning this month with the introduction. watch video @ the Quality Digest website: intro > part 1> part 2 >

http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/fda-compliance-video/special-report-hazardous-substance-process-management-intro.html-0

http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/fda-compliance-video/special-report-hazardous-substance-process-management-part-1.html

http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/fda-compliance-video/special-report-hazardous-substance-process-management-part-2.html

http://certificates.iecq.org/iecq/iecqweb.nsf/HSPM?OpenView&Start=1&Count=30&Collapse=1#1
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by alexhofford01 September 15, 2009 12:13 PM EDT
My name is Alex Hofford and I'm a photographer based in Hong Kong. I went to Guiyu back in May, and have blogged about it since over a period of weeks. Here are the links to what I saw and what I think about the subject:-

http://www.alexhoffordphotography.com/node/2206

http://www.alexhoffordphotography.com/node/2232

http://www.alexhoffordphotography.com/node/2223

http://www.alexhoffordphotography.com/node/2220

http://www.alexhoffordphotography.com/node/2238

Comments welcome.

I don't know of any reports more recent than mine, but I would love to know where the CRT monitors are being broken now as it has gone totally underground in Guiyu. I would also like to know what the latest situation is.

Alex Hofford
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by StanSalot September 12, 2009 8:33 PM EDT
I applaud 60 Minutes for airing this report and hope that they will find it equally important to do a follow up report to show their viewers the efforts taken by members of the US National Authorized Institution, The Electronic Component Certification Board (ECCB) to address this.

In my role as President of the ECCB, I have had the opportunity to help develop and implement a United States Standard [EIA/ECCB ? 954] that was adopted internationally as IECQ QC 080000 to certify manufacturers who produce Hazardous Substance Free Electrical and Electronic Consumer products.

Starting in 2005 under the International Electrotechnical Commission Quality Assessment System for Electronic Components, [IECQ] US Sponsored Certification Bodies began providing 3rd party IECQ HSPM Certification to manufacturers that demonstrate hazardous substance free manufacturing compliance. With more than 1895 certified companies today, we believe we are beginning to make some progress.
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by beadbuddy September 10, 2009 10:32 AM EDT
What can people do? You must have missed the theme of this segment. Consumers can feel guilty for buying the computers, T.V.s and electronic equipment. That is it. That is the preferred solution.

What can companies do? That's a loaded question! Obviously they can stop producing this kind of toxic waste and stop forcing folks to purchase new, and newer and newest every year. But they want US to feel guilty, that way we won't blame them for the toxic waste that nobody wants to deal with.

I had to get rid of a perfectly good computer that could no longer download the "band with pigs" (like cbsnews.com): internet sites that demand constant computer upgrades in order to show the flashy ads for products like Lipitor. Yes, I find Lipitor and Cbsnews.com directly responsible for this toxic waste. But lets blame and shame the consumer for this waste, shall we? Where do you think my very useful, (but useless to this site), computer is now? Probably China.

I was also forced to junk an old T.V. set because of the new DTV conversion. How many TONS of useable T.V.s are filling our dumps because of that? And who did that conversion really help? Networks like CBS. The coupon program was a complete failure. I had a coupon, but I was never able to find a single store that had a converter box in stock after looking dozens of times. It appears that the corporations did NOT want the consumer to re-fit the old T.V.s but junk them and buy new. More toxic waste.

The truth be told, corporations who produce these products are responsible for our toxic waste problems and shows like 60 minutes are hired to cover up their culpability lest CBS itself be blamed as well. It is a conflict of interest for CBS to report on electronic goods when your company relies heavily on the ability of your advertisers to coerce consumers into the endless cycle of waste they insidiously promote and you shame us for.
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by isgoinggreen4real September 8, 2009 11:03 AM EDT
Effectively disturbed by this report. Please CBS give us an equally effective solution to this problem. This story is incomplete until you have provided reporting on a proper solution. What can companies and individuals do to help????
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by rangerman01 September 6, 2009 3:58 PM EDT
This story is GREAT!!! The biggest problem is, stupid people are doing important things. It is hard to do the right thing after doing it wrong for so long.

I currently live in Taipei and I love Hong Kong very much too. What very much confuses me is in Hong Kong Land is SO FREAKING expensive how can they waste space for something like this? There is no way they can get the return out of holding waste.

It is great they have pointed out such a great need int he market, but also someone else wrote they were paying disposal fees. That would be a HUGE question to cover, that money is being taken and not doing what they are suppose to do.
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by beadbuddy September 6, 2009 11:33 AM EDT
So what? So what if China is willing to take our most toxic garbage and So What if it kills there children and completely ruins their land. SO WHAT? Does that information make people feel bad? Or feel the least bit guilty about buying a new computer or cell phone? I doubt it doubt it bothers many folks for more than a second.

Who actually disposes of this toxic waste correctly? NO ONE.

That burden falls on the municipalities. Big or small the municipalities DO NOT want to deal with the problem. The recycling company in your report won a contract from the city of Denver, Colorado. I would have to believe that they bid, $999 per ton of waste, say, and beat out a company who bid $1,005 and a company who bid $1,050 and beat out all the other illegal waste export companies you mention in your report who export this waste to China. What is the real cost of recycling this toxic waste? No body knows, because no body does it.

And what about small municipalities? They are less able to afford to hire a proper facility to dispose of this waste and it gets dumped into fields, streams, etc. where the waste eventually enters our food stream. At acceptable levels of course. I have to believe that the toxins from a Dell computer dumped in rural Idaho are mixed into a jar of Gerber's mashed potatoes being feed to an infant in New York. At acceptable levels, of course.

dontwatchmuchtv suggests we learn to, "not to buy electronics at all or buy less." Why? Why on earth would I do that? That is just plain stupid. I pay local taxes. I pay for the recycling of these products whether I buy them or not. My neighbor can buy 40 cell phones and a new computer a year, while I never do. And yet I still have to pay for the disposal of his toxic waste. If I am forced to pay for the disposal of this waste, I am certainly not going to worry about it.

I propose a Waste Tax and Recycling Deposit on all electronic goods. The Waste tax is imposed on products based on the cost to properly dispose of their toxic componants. The revenue collected from that tax goes directly to government sponsored or contracted disposal facilities. So, the consumer pays for the cost of recycling a Dell Computer, say, at the point of purchase. I, who choose not to buy a new computer every year, am not burdened with the cost of disposing of your toxic waste.

A Recycling Deposit is placed on Electronic products, and is refunded when that product is delivered to a proper disposal facility. This would help to see that electronics are delivered to the proper facilities.

Otherwise, I believe that illegally shipping toxic waste to China and other countries is a brilliant solution to a growing problem and shame on anyone who thinks otherwise, yet is unwilling to pay for a healthy alternative. Believe me, NO BODY wants to pay for the disposal of their own waste. That is a problem as old as mankind.
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by beadbuddy September 6, 2009 11:22 AM EDT
So what? So what if China is willing to take our most toxic garbage and So What if it kills there children and completely ruins their land. SO WHAT? Does that information make people feel bad? Or feel the least bit guilty about buying a new computer or cell phone? I doubt it doubt it bothers many folks for more than a second.

Who actually disposes of this toxic waste correctly? NO ONE.

That burden falls on the municipalities. Big or small the municipalities DO NOT want to deal with the problem. The recycling company in your report won a contract from the city of Denver, Colorado. I would have to believe that they bid, $999 per ton of waste, say, and beat out a company who bid $1,005 and a company who bid $1,050 and beat out all the other illegal waste export companies you mention in your report who export this waste to China. What is the real cost of recycling this toxic waste? No body knows, because no body does it.

And what about small municipalities? They are less able to afford to hire a proper facility to dispose of this waste and it gets dumped into fields, streams, etc. where the waste eventually enters our food stream. At acceptable levels of course. I have to believe that the toxins from a Dell computer dumped in rural Idaho are mixed into a jar of Gerber's mashed potatoes being feed to an infant in New York. At acceptable levels, of course.

dontwatchmuchtv suggests we learn to, "not to buy electronics at all or buy less." Why? Why on earth would I do that? That is just plain stupid. I pay local taxes. I pay for the recycling of these products whether I buy them or not. My neighbor can buy 40 cell phones and a new computer a year, while I never do. And yet I still have to pay for the disposal of his toxic waste. If I am forced to pay for the disposal of this waste, I am certainly not going to worry about it.

I propose a Waste Tax and Recycling Deposit on all electronic goods. The Waste tax is imposed on products based on the cost to properly dispose of their toxic componants. The revenue collected from that tax goes directly to government sponsored or contracted disposal facilities. So, the consumer pays for the cost of recycling a Dell Computer, say, at the point of purchase. I, who choose not to buy a new computer every year, am not burdened with the cost of disposing of your toxic waste.

A Recycling Deposit is placed on Electronic products, and is refunded when that product is delivered to a proper disposal facility. This would help to see that electronics are delivered to the proper facilities.

Otherwise, I believe that illegally shipping toxic waste to China and other countries is a brilliant solution to a growing problem and shame on anyone who thinks otherwise, yet is unwilling to pay for a healthy alternative. Believe me, NO BODY wants to pay for the disposal of their own waste. That is a problem as old as mankind.
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by ncyts3 September 2, 2009 3:47 AM EDT
I am Chinese from Hong Kong now living in bay area. I saw this program the first time last year. I was angry. Then I saw it the second time; I was angry again. But angry doesn't help solving problem; right?! In CA, we were charged from $8-$25 for California Monitor Recycling Fee (from Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003). I don't have the number of how many LCD TV/Monitor have been sold in CA since 2003. But I wouldn't be surprised if it would be a huge number due to the popularity of the thinner LCD/LED technologies, and the Digital TV switch-over few months ago. Does anyone know where were the money spent? I saw another program the other night (I forgot from which channel) saying that they found out some CA companies actually sold the e-waste items to another states, such as Arizona, where the recycling law is not that tight; then those companies reship the items to Mexico (or some other countries, like China?). I believe letting the states to take care the problem is no longer work. This is no longer a domestic issue, but international problem. Maybe the Fed govt should do something by "encouraging" the high-tech companies, which produces physical products, to operate their own recycling center. As consumers, since we have already pay the recycling fees to the CA state govt when we recycling the items, we should be able to "ship back" the item from post office to the company's recycle center for free, or a little fees. On the other hand, the Fed govt should have a set of strong law and enforcement to make sure the e-waste won't "go away." Some people may claim this would increase the price of the high-tech products. Yes, but I think it would be in the short run. I believe some big companies might eventually (need to) develop new methods to reuse the elements from the e-waste items. Nowadays, no one really want to invest into this just because of the high research and investment cost comparing to just shipping them oversea. But if the companies were "encouraged" to do so, they could reuse the elements into their new products, and thus, the cost would go down again. Pick an example, few "high-tech" products I have seen are actually using "old" parts like the RAM we used back to the days of my first 386SX computer. This could be a win-win solution in the long run. I might be wrong. But this is just something in my mind for a while.

Another thing in my mind... I always watch something on TV claiming how the polluted air comes across the Pacific Ocean from China. Do we have the actual number of people who have been killed in the States due to the air pollution? Compare with the number of people who are dead due to the e-waste pollution?
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by simotre1 September 1, 2009 2:16 PM EDT
Most of the comments posted are positive ones on the story of e waste. However, like many have stated in comment--there should be safe ways of disposing of this safely. Furthermore, everything should be recycled. How about doing a segment on how it should be done. With America's unemployment being so elevated, looks like potential jobs for America. Operation Green America!
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by skepticalJM September 1, 2009 11:19 AM EDT
This is a story about the evils of the present form of capitalism as an economic system, and the disparity it is generating worldwide. There is no excuse for greed, and that is what we are facing here. Fixing all the abuses one by one is like a doctor who cures each symptom and never looks at the underlying disease the patient has; in the end the patient will die of the disease. Our societies are dying of capitalism, a parasitical system that is being taught in our schools and fostered even by our greedy religions that are thriving on the donation based cure of the inevitable poverty it generates. Neither poverty or its supposed cure, charity, are inevitable; but they are the the foul effects of the disintegration of humanity's societies because of the effects of the disease of greed, under the pseudonym of capitalism. CBS do a story on greed! Oh... I forgot; your one of those greedy empires aren't you; or are you? I guess I'll leave that up to your readers to decide.
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by shanyong September 1, 2009 9:54 AM EDT
As a Chinese civilian,I cannot help but be angry with the above phenomenon.
Since it's illegal to export the computer/TV monitors without special permission.I wonder how can the so-called excutive cycling company still ship the e-waste to our country(or middle east)? Maybe it is all about the money. The smuglers can make considerable profits from the whole 'recycling process', and the Chinese mainland citizens are willing to take the job as the garbage man( because the money is good). What a shame!
poverty is poison. people,ask what you can do to protect our mother nature and ourself.
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by Kramden_Institute September 1, 2009 9:31 AM EDT
This story was truly eye opening for me. It sickens me to know that the efforts of individuals to recycle their electronic goods was done in vain. This episode also reminded me of Kramden Institute, a Non-profit organization based in North Carolina that recycles computer equipment in a different fashion, by extending the life of old computers and monitors. Kramden refurbishes donated computers and awards those computers (free of charge) to hardworking, underprivileged students that do not have a computer at home. All of Kramden recipients were nominated by their teachers. Kramden has awarded over 4,000 computers to academically motivated students in-need, helping over 16,000 people get access to a home computer. Extend the life of your old computer by donating it to a non profit organization that can re-use you unwanted computer equipment.

For more information about Kramden, please visit www.kramden.org
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by saustrabeck August 31, 2009 10:39 AM EDT
The UK does the same thing, sends its electronic waste to its former colony Ghana, West Africa. I initially saw this report published in The Economist. Welcome to the dark side of globalization.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/poisoning-the-poor-electroni
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by lford56 August 31, 2009 1:50 AM EDT
This is definitely an important story, but you seem to misrepresent the danger. There was a PBS piece on the same topic on Frontline, reported by students no less, and they walked around this area of China filming and talking to people. I wonder if it wasn't the tall, handsome blond CBS reporter who drew the attention and the fire. The PBS piece also exposed major data security issues, including national security vulnerabilities. 60 Minutes is my favorite show, but I hate to see it trumped by underfunded public television!
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by purebasic August 31, 2009 1:37 AM EDT
The wasteland episode this evening was excellent except that CBS only told us of the discovery and the negative of our efforts as a society to expand our new intelligence into the 21st century.

What you did not tell us in your story tonight is what our society or companies should be doing with our electronic waste?

Don't just expose the negative to make your stories but give us the solutions ..

By giving us alternative solutions to the negatives you expose you would give birth to new industries and companies.

It is always easy to promote the negative please try to promote the answer to cure the negative.
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by dontwatchmuchtv August 30, 2009 10:35 PM EDT
Thanks CBSNews, it was a good rebroadcast but the show could've mentioned how to recycle e-waste responsibly.

You can go to the Basel Action Network's website (http://www.ban.org/) to get a list of e-Stewards where you can drop off or ship the e-waste.

But the best thing is not to buy electronics at all or buy less. (and this covers all things in general--the more waste the more landfills we need!)

P.S. It would be great if this website provided links for more information and research for each 60 Minutes segment.
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