From The Boston Globe
By Derrick Z. Jackson

It is easy to dump on China’s tainted milk, toxic toys, and poison pet food, ignoring how the United States makes China its personal PC dump.

Last week, the Government Accountability Office found virtually no enforcement by the Environmental Protection Agency on exports of used electronics to developing countries that often dismantle them in extremely unsafe operations. The GAO had agents pose as buyers of broken cathode-ray tube television and computer monitors. It found that dozens of electronics recyclers in the United States were willing to export “broken, untested or nonworking” CRTs to developing nations like China, India, and Indonesia and regions like Western Africa. CRTs have enough lead in them to be “especially harmful to humans and the environment” if handled improperly.

The GAO said, “EPA records show that none of the recyclers willing to sell to us had filed proper notifications of their intent to export CRTs for recycling as is required . . . Some of these seemingly noncompliant companies actively cultivate an environmentally responsible public image; at least three of them held Earth Day 2008 electronics recycling events.”

In addition, federal rules allow for exporting just about any other non-CRT products, “such as computers, printers and cell phones,” even though “they can be mismanaged overseas and can cause serious health and environmental problems.”

Read more Dumping Ground