Entry #11 E-recycling is it Really Helping?

Tech News

While most time I like to write about the new and exciting news happening in the tech world, today I felt compelled to write on a more serious topic.
In today's times having the newest gadget has become an obsession and millions of people each year spend billions of dollars upgrading their computers, cell phones, and televisions. and with LCD TVs and monitors getting cheaper and more energy efficient more and more people are throwing out there old CRT monitors and buying LDC monitors.
So you might think you are helping the environment by buying an energy efficient LCD monitor. But what are you doing with the old monitor? A year ago you would have thrown it into the garbage devastating our land fills and polluting the ground because on average a 17" CRT monitor contains 8lbs of lead. Now today people can take those monitors and other electronics into a recycling depot and have them properly recycled and the hazardous material like the lead disposed of properly, or so you thing. CBS 60 minutes has just released a report that shows that in a lot of cases when you take that monitor into recycling to have the hazardous material disposed of properly the recycling companies are infact sending the electronics to poor parts of the world to fund gangs and poison children.
Places like China illegally buy the electronic and pay destitute people to meltdown the electronics to extract the precious metals within the compounds. Metals like copper, gold and silver are manually extracted using open flames and toxic baths. As shown in the 60 minute report these people are not only unprotected but breath the poison gases and are exposed to extreme amounts of lead in there water and food.
So next time you upgrade to the newest cell phone or larger computer and take the old computer to be recycled ask the recyclers what "actually" happens to the computer you might be surprised that being green does not always mean you are helping the planet.