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ENVIRONMENT-CHILE:
Electronic Garbage Poses
Increasing Dangers
Daniela
Estrada*
SANTIAGO, (Tierramérica) -
Computers and mobile telephones
that have become obsolete are
forming a mountain of electronic
waste in Chile. But few people
seem to realise the magnitude of
the environmental and health
problems they pose.
Heavy metals -- like cadmium,
lead and mercury -- are found in
electronic components, and they
are a danger to the environment
and human health, say activists.
The quantity of obsolete
equipment accumulating in Chile
is cause for concern: more than
five million used cellular
phones, more than 1.5 million
computers and thousands of other
items, such as televisions,
video recorders, calculators,
printers and photocopiers.
''The situation is serious,
given that this country has not
even resolved the problem of
managing normal household waste.
Instead of sanitary landfills,
there continue to be unregulated
dumps and there is almost no
recycling,'' Sara Larraín,
director of the non-governmental
group Sustainable Chile, told
Tierramérica.
It was not until June of this
year that Congress approved the
Hazardous Waste Management Act,
which is a step forward in waste
treatment, but does not go far
enough because it lacks the
necessary oversight mechanisms,
she said.
Back in 1990, just 10,000
Chileans had mobile phones, but
by March 2004 there were 7.9
million such phones in this
country of 15.8 million people.
According to the estimates of
the government
telecommunications office,
Subtel, by the end of this year
there will be nine million
mobile phones in Chilean hands.
A similar phenomenon surrounds
personal computers. In 1994,
just over 100,000 computers were
sold in Chile, but the record
was set in 2000 when nearly
420,000 computers were sold. In
2003, Chileans purchased 407,742
computers.
These new items become ''old''
in no time. A mobile phone has
an average life of 18 months. A
computer manufactured in 2004
will likely be considered
obsolete in three years.
A big portion of this new type
of garbage -- also known as
''e-waste'' -- is supposed to
end up in a collection centre in
the western Santiago district of
Carrascal. There, equipment is
dismantled and useful parts are
resold, but the rest of the
waste continues to accumulate.
The problem of e-waste is not,
of course, a problem exclusive
to Chile. At the first-ever
E-Waste Seminar, held last month
in Santiago, it was stressed
that just 11 percent of the
electronic waste produced
worldwide is recycled.
Recycling includes dismantling
to recover useful parts and
re-using metals and other
materials. The recyclable
materials are often melted down
to manufacture new electronic
items.
The only Chilean company
dedicated to the recovery of
electronic waste is Recycla,
which says only clean
technologies are used in the
process.
The two-year-old firm has a
plant in the Pudahuel district
of the capital. It is set up to
handle computers and mobile
phones in an effort to recover
aluminium, copper, bronze,
stainless steel and lead --
metals that are then sold to
industry.
Recycla holds contracts with
many big Chilean companies and
has also established a strategic
alliance with Hidronor, the only
local firm dedicated to managing
dangerous waste. Recycla sends
cell phone batteries and
computer monitors to Hidronor.
Recycla is conducting an
awareness campaign among the
companies and health
authorities. The company's
environment manager, Mauricio
Núñez, told Tierramérica it has
been difficult to raise
awareness in the business world
about the seriousness of the
problem.
''We know it's a slow process,
but we are sure that as long as
more companies are certified
under the International
Organisation for Standardisation
(ISO) 14.000 Standard, which
obligates businesses to manage
the waste they produce, things
are going to change.''
Both Recycla and Sustainable
Chile work under the assumption
that the citizenry has little
knowledge of the importance of
recycling electronic products.
In Larraín's opinion, as long as
there is no national policy to
guide product certification and
other manufacturer obligations,
Chilean consumers will fail to
grasp the issue's importance.
''If the products bear a label
indicating that the product was
made under strict environmental
standards, as is done in Europe,
people would have a new element
for making their purchasing
choice, not just price and
quality,'' stressed the
environmental activist.
(* Daniela Estrada is an IPS
contributor. Originally
published Nov. 6 by Latin
American newspapers that are
part of the Tierramérica
network. Tierramérica is a
specialised news service
produced by IPS with the backing
of the United Nations
Development Programme and the
United Nations Environment
Programme.)
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