A recent BBC exposé showed evidence that some organisations may be transporting their broken hardware overseas.
Stone Group, a hardware supplier, has widely criticised public sector organisations that allow e-waste to be shipped abroad for illegal dumping. The Group stated that it was disappointed to see IT hardware being dumped on other continents following a BBC programme highlighting the illegal practice.
Public sector ogranisations were accused of transporting redundant IT equipment to waste sites in Ghana in a BBC3 spot that aired last week. ‘Blood, Sweat & Luxuries: Gold and E-Waste’ showed images of children at the waste site in Ghana scavenging through the scraps for components to sell. Andy Howell of Stone said the he believed IT firms entered into recycling contracts in good faith, not knowing that their e-waste was ending up in sites like the one in Ghana.
Mr Howell added that these ‘cowboy suppliers’, or fraudulent IT recycling firms, had let down the public sector bodies by not adequately ensuring that old IT equipment would be responsibly recycled. He also said the damage to the environment due to such behaviours, particularly where the waste is dumped, would be immense.
After a UN report surfaced last year that e-waste is becoming a growing contributor to methane and carbon gas emissions across the globe, companies and governments have been working to implement better recycling practices for electrical rubbish.
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