incommunicado

Even as the Central Pollution Control Body seeks feedback on the draft guidelines on e-waste management in India, Delhi-based Toxics Link has released a pioneering study mapping the e-waste scenario in Kolkata, revealing that not only is the city fast joining other metros in e-waste generation, but is also emerging as a major centre for hazardous e-waste recycling in its residential areas that is being imported from overseas apart from other parts of India.

A bright idea to shrink the digital divide, and Third World landfills

A UN-led group is grappling with the growing crisis of high-tech trash.
By Moises Velasquez-Manoff, Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

Mountains of outdated electronics are rising worldwide, and a United Nations-led initiative launched in Bonn, Germany Wednesday is trying to set standards on how to recycle it.

The electronics industry is often considered a 'clean' industry. But sleek shiny gadgets hide a darker side of the industry. The new Greenpeace report 'Cutting Edge Contamination' exposes that some of the electronics industries' biggest brands, and their suppliers, are contaminating rivers and underground wells with a wide range of hazardous chemicals during production.

Greenpeace Article: Cutting edge contamination
Download Report from the Greenpeace Website

EPA: Sustainable solution to Electronic waste

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an emerging principle for a new generation of pollution prevention policies. It imposes accountability over the entire life-cycle of products and packaging introduced in the market.

Greenpeace: Acer and Lenovo are the latest of the top computer makers to commit to stop using the worst toxic chemicals in their products. Along with Motorola these companies are the biggest movers in the latest version of our Guide to Greener Electronics. Disappointingly for Mac fans, Apple has dropped to last place.

Speech by Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to the Opening of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention.

Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) and the Computer Take Back Campaign (CTBC) release the 2005 Computer Report Card. The Computer Report Card, issued by SVTC since 2000, tracks the progress that computer and electronics companies are making on social and environmental indicators, including materials policy, supply chain management, take back programs, and end-of-life management of their products. Report Card (as htm file)

The Independent - This year we will discard 100 million TVs, computers, stereos and mobile phones as we're seduced by ever newer models. They could all be recycled - so why aren't they? Martin Hickman investigates

Published in toxicslink.org (as pdf)

'Are you as the customer ready to foot the extra bill? Why should the manufacturing sector alone be made the scapegoat for all the evils that emanate from e-waste? If computers and all other electronic items are so bad, why don’t you stop using the same altogether?' asks Vinnie Mehta, executive director, Manufacturers Association for Information and Technology.