E recycling in 3rd world countries.

Yikes! :eek:

Also a big thanks to all of you who do things the right way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sMOA...layer_embedded

Hey I successfully embedded a video. :)

I recognized one of the boards, its from a computer power supply.

Its to bad that green peace was taken over by displaced communists. I think they really did good work at one time, Mike.

wow. scrap fast die young

Daaaang. None of that looked safe.

Question, would handling low grade TV boards bare handed eventually lead to a "build up" of nasty stuff in my system? I can't wear gloves, just can't work with em. And i'm always tearin down these boards.

Hoss I use the thin leather glove harbor freight calls driving gloves. They are the only ones I can use and still bend my fingers, Mike.

I’m always skeptical of the implications from documentaries like these; the unintended consequences of any action. It’s not that there is no victim, only who is the victim? This is a property rights question. I remember reading economic literature sometime back on the unintended consequences of the UN cracking down on third-world child labor. What seemed like a noble cause that succeeded in getting children out of textile factories inadvertently increased the supply of child prostitution thought out the world’s underground economy of slave trafficking. This is not to say that textile factories shouldn’t have better practices for child safety but there are consequences for our actions.

Notice how these films are not edited and filmed using 80/90’s technology? I would venture to say that this new tech was purchased for this film endeavor, and what of the old tech? Was it recycled properly? How do they know? And what is proper recycling? Reuse? Refurbish? Melting? I have family in Central America that will take any of my left over printers, cell phones, TV’s, etc. Because there is still a market for use in these poor countries. Should I deny them reuse to instead see that it is melted properly domestically? There are too many issues this film does not address.

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Originally Posted by Jeremiah

I’m always skeptical of the implications from documentaries like these; the unintended consequences of any action. It’s not that there is no victim, only who is the victim? This is a property rights question. I remember reading economic literature sometime back on the unintended consequences of the UN cracking down on third-world child labor. What seemed like a noble cause that succeeded in getting children out of textile factories inadvertently increased the supply of child prostitution thought out the world’s underground economy of slave trafficking. This is not to say that textile factories shouldn’t have better practices for child safety but there are consequences for our actions.

Notice how these films are not edited and filmed using 80/90’s technology? I would venture to say that this new tech was purchased for this film endeavor, and what of the old tech? Was it recycled properly? How do they know? And what is proper recycling? Reuse? Refurbish? Melting? I have family in Central America that will take any of my left over printers, cell phones, TV’s, etc. Because there is still a market for use in these poor countries. Should I deny them reuse to instead see that it is melted properly domestically? There are too many issues this film does not address.

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This is similar to the problems I have with my church's mission work. We go to third world countries and want to change their lifestyle standards, give them our lifestyle, and conveniences, and so on. Instead of going out spreading the Gospel we try to lift up people that aren't truly poor, they are poor by our standards, but by their standards they're not too terribly off. I am currently at odds with our missionary director because when we go back next year I want to start working with them to start doing sustainable farming instead of our mission monies going to buy them seed every year, teach them to keep back 10% of their farmed product for replanting. </rant>

Wow, thats depressing. The cost of our convenience lifestyle that everyone else wants too, and why shouldnt they?. What struck me was how inefficient it must be to remove metals from circuit boards that way, they are surely getting a fraction of usable material by heating the boards over a burner and smacking them. I believe that in the US the boards are put in acid baths to dissolve all the metals?

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Question, would handling low grade TV boards bare handed eventually lead to a "build up" of nasty stuff in my system? I can't wear gloves, just can't work with em. And i'm always tearin down these boards.

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To answer you question Hoss, Yes you can absorb solder and other board chemicals into your system where it will slowly break down kidneys, and other vital organs over a long period of time. Answer me this; Did I get sick from Agent Orange or 20 years of soldering on CB/Ham radio's?? I feel I know the answer as all the different things wrong with me is not consistent with the repair work I did.

The deeply sad thing to me is that the market for e waste recycling there probably doesn't pay anything close to what it would in the states. If we did what they did we'd probably get way more money for the metal we harvested.... That and they are desperate and poisoning themselves to try and survive that's deeply sad as well.

I won't sell anything directly to India or China.

I try to find out where my scrap goes when dealing with buyers.

When you deal with a broker as opposed to an end user/recycler/refiner you do not know where it's going.

And neither do they.

The highest bidder gets the material.

Regardless of where it goes and how many human rights violations it takes to make a buck.

I refuse to do business that way.

I'd rather not have my scrap processed in the most environmentally unfriendly way possible by children and their mothers for pennies a day.

In some cases, slave labor.

An easy buck.