E-waste trafficking : from your home to China

Electronic waste generally means discarded or obsolete electronics products. Around 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste is generated worldwide every year. The United States is the world’s largest e-waste producer, generating about 2.5 million tons of used electronics annually. However, American recyclers get to choose their own methods of recycling because there is no national legislation to regulate it. Often, the result is witnessed thousands of miles away, in growing dumping grounds in developing nations like China. Guiyu is a town in southeastern China that has become a center for processing imported e-waste. Local people extracting metals from e-waste use primitive methods that cause great harm to the environment and their health. I am doing a combination written and visual project to provide an overview of how e-waste trafficking works and what damage has been brought to other countries from U.S. e-waste exports.