SILICON VALLEY TOXICS

BAN (2002) The Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition exporting harm the high-tech trashing of Asia, www.ban.org... 

The Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition have released a report, Exporting Harm Techno Trash to Asia, that states that electronic waste is the most rapidly growing waste problem in the world. The US and other countries that use most of the world s electronic products, and thus generate most of the waste, have been exporting the electronic waste crisis to the developing... 

A report prepared by The Basel Action Network (BAN) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) in 2002 (BAN and SVTC, 2002) introduced an insider story by a recycling operator in the United States (US). The stoiy indicates that around 80% of what comes through their doors have been exported offshore to Asia and 90% of that was to China. 

Silicon has the advantages of being abundant and nontoxic. Most other cells contain toxic metals or elements that are not abundant and probably not cheap. If materials other than silicon come into common use, some sort of collection and recycling system will be needed to keep discarded cells from ending up in incinerators and landfills where they may be sources of pollution.379 ( Silicon Valley, California has 29 Superfund sites.380)... 

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