E+Waste

12/12/08 E-waste- Electronic waste- is a waste type consisting of any broken or unwanted electrical or electronic device. Recyclable electronic waste is sometimes further categorized as a "commodity" while e-waste which cannot be reused is distinguished as "waste". Both types of e-waste have raised concern considering that many components of such equipment are considered toxic and are not biodegradable. E-waste poses a hazard to the citizens who come into contact with it. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (JAN. 2008)  ·  Toxins in e-waste include PVC, brominated flame retardants, barium chromium, mercury, beryllium and cadmium  ·  Impoverished people of third world nations (such as Ghana, China etc) utilize the e-waste by burning it or taking it apart and selling the metal.  ·  E-waste also ends up in landfills when not recycled. The Basel Ban  ·  The Basel Ban decision effectively banned as of 1 January 1998, all forms of hazardous waste exports from the 29 wealthiest most industrialized countries  ·  It was passed in 1994 a unique coalition of developing countries, and some from Eastern and Western Europe along with Greenpeace.  ·  It can be noted that in fact 67 countries in total have actually implemented or ratified the ban (all of the above plus **Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Malta**). The difference lies in the fact that the EEC is one of the ratifiers. The European Economic Community (EEC) is known to have competence over all EU member states with respect to international treaties dealing with trade. That is why the EU countries have passed EEC 259/93 and its amendments (the law implementing the Basel Ban) as a regulation (immediately binding on all member states).  ·  This regulation is applicable to not only to all of the 25 member states of the European Union but to their trading partners in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as well (with the exception of Switzerland), under the European Economic Agreement (EEA). The fact that the Basel Convention Secretariat has not noted each individual EU member state, nor their EFTA partners (which comprises Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland), is reflective of the fact that they have no authority to do so. It is not reflective of the fact that for all intents and purposes, the EU and EFTA countries have now all fully implemented the Basel Ban Amendment regardless of when each individual state takes the somewhat redundant step of ratifying individually. Thus for the purpose of determining Basel Ban implementation we can count a total of 67. For entry into force however we must count only the official deposits equaling 63 of the 62 needed (representing 3/4ths of the 82 Parties present at COP3).justice was achieved despite powerful opposition from such countries as the United States, Australia, Germany, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom. Recycling  ·  In the United States, it is estimated that more than 70 percent of discarded computers and monitors, and well over 80 percent of TVs, eventually end up in landfills, despite a growing number of state laws that prohibit dumping of e-waste
 * E Waste **