Dec 18 - E-Waste In Developing Countries

BBC News is doing a series on the growing amounts of electronic waste that has been sent overseas to developing countries. Reports that have aired so far discuss the e-waste in India and Nigeria . The four part series by Liz Carney of BBC World Service's Dirty Business looks into the negatives costs of e-waste recycling abroad and the large amounts of waste exported from industrialized countries to developing ones.

Much of this trade is illegal, dangerous and environmentally disastrous to the countries who receive it. Exporters describe the used and unwanted computers and other electronics by saying the are "shipped for re-use" when sending them overseas. Most times, these computers end up in heaps with toxins leaching into the water and air.

Part One: Shipbreaking in India

The Blue Lady, once one of the world's most glamorous cruise ships, is currently beached at the huge ship-breaking yard of Alang in India.

Map of Alang, Gujarat, India
Environmental groups argue that the asbestos-riddled ship is toxic waste and say the ship was dumped on India as a cheap place to scrap it.

But ship breakers say Alang meets the necessary health and safety standards. They maintain that if Blue Lady is turned away from India, the work will simply go to a cheaper yard, probably in China.

The situation is set to get worse, 200 single hulled oil tankers need to be disposed of by 2015.

Go to part one to listen to the report and link to the rest of the series.

Next in the series are reports in the Czech Republic and the USA.

What You Can Do

Lanh Nguyen