Banning e-waste exportation neglects domestic e-waste in the South

"The solution to the e-waste problem is to recognize regional and local contexts along with social implications of the issue. Simply banning the export of electronic junk from developed countries to developing nations is not the solution, since domestic generation constitutes a major proportion of electronic waste in all countries. What is needed is an end to end solution for electronic waste management and higher levels of consumer awareness regarding the hazards of e-scrap and how it affects children.” 

Meta-Actor: Not-for-Profit

Source Document: http://www.twosidesna.org/US/E-Waste-Children-How-It-Is-Harming-Future-Generations

Date: January 31, 2014

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"What some policymakers fail to understand is that most of the used electronics being generated and recycled in developing countries originate in that country, not from U.S. exports. For that very reason, stopping the export of end-of-life electronics from the United States will do nothing to solve the underlying problem of bad actors polluting the environment and instead will block positive efforts currently being undertaken by the U.S. recycling industry to promote and support developing countries in their efforts to build environmentally responsible and sustainable economies," he (Harris) adds. 

Meta-Actor: Journalism

Source Document: https://waste-management-world.com/a/e-waste-exports-an-inconvenient-truth

Date: February 28, 2012

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“The big misconception is that the best way of dealing with e-waste is to try and stop the waste coming in to a country, rather than focusing on solutions.  We've seen a lot of countries ban the import of secondhand products thinking that they are getting 'waste'. This has a serious negative impact. Uganda has formally recognised the impact of this legislation on their ability to bridge the digital divide. 

Our (Dell) commitment is still not to ship waste, but the most important thing for those countries is solutions. As long as there is a solution for waste, it can be managed: you can create value and you can create jobs."

Meta-Actor: Journalism

Source Document: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/jul/03/e-waste-computers-dell-recycle

Date: July 3, 2014

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“In March, 2010, in the journal titled Environmental Science and Technology , author Eric Williams, Assistant Professor in Arizona State University, wrote, “Trade bans will become increasingly irrelevant in solving the problem (of e-waste)”. He argues that a complete ban on export of used and end-of-life electronics to developing countries would fail to solve the problem because the developing world would generate more used and end-of-life electronics than the developed countries as early as 2017. Additionally, by 2025, the developing world would generate twice the amount of electronic scrap as what will come from the developed nations."

Meta-Actor: Government

Source Document: http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/publication_electronic/E-Waste_in_india.pdf

Date: June 2011

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CONTEXT(Help)
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StEP TBM »StEP TBM
Issues »Issues
Should e-waste be traded from North to South? »Should e-waste be traded from North to South?
Banning e-waste exportation neglects domestic e-waste in the South
Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI)  »Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI)
Dell »Dell
Prof. Eric Williams »Prof. Eric Williams
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