Electronic waste poses risk to Vietnam's environment



HANOI: -- The exponential growth of the information technology industry in recent years is posing a significant risk to the environment, as the disposal of electronic equipment waste rapidly expands, reported Viet Nam News.

Over the past five years, the industry has grown an average of 45.5 percent annually. Total revenue exceeded US$25.5 billion in 2012 alone, more than 94 percent of which came from electronic equipment and hardware.

According to the General Statistics Office, the number of personal computers adopted by each household nationwide reached 0.17 between 2004 and 2010, while the use of washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners and television sets jumped by 183 percent, 139 percent, 32 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

Hanoi is expected to discard 161,000 TVs, 97,000 PCs, 178,000 refrigerators, 136,000 washing machines and 97,000 air conditioners by 2020. HCM City, meanwhile, predicts even higher disposal rates, with 700,000 TVs, 290,000 PCs; 424,000 refrigerators, 339,000 washing machines and 330,000 air conditioners.

A recent survey conducted in Hanoi and HCM City by an Asia-Pacific consortium of IT corporations and the University of Science and Technology’s Institute for Environmental Science and Technology showed that between 81 and 100 percent of respondents would rather sell their second-hand electronic items to scrap-iron dealers or private electronic repair shops than donate them to e-waste treatment companies.

Disposed-of items are generally dismantled and usable parts repurposed, while the remaining components are usually burnt or dumped in landfills.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/electronic-waste-poses-risk-vietnams-environment


-- Thai PBS 2015-01-13

… while the remaining components are usually burnt or dumped in landfills.

What part of a computer, fridge, washing machine, or air conditioner do you burn?

Oh, this was written by Thais?

Never mind.

There's very little in those items that can't be recycled, even the plastics. In my country recyclers will pay money for every one of those items.

They get gold and silver from plated electronic components, they melt the metals and separate them, some parts such as the fibreglass for the circuit boards are ground up to make new ones...

They have to pay to put any part of it into a landfill, so they use everything but the feathers.

and not one tourist is a bit concerned about the AGENT ORANGE that stays in the blood, ground, plants, food, water for many decades ?

you can still see children born with horrific malformations, but they gladly go visit the jungle, rat tunnels, etc ....