LEADFREE Archives

January 2005

Leadfree@IPC.ORG

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Bev Christian <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
(Leadfree Electronics Assembly Forum)
Date:
Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:50:48 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (33 lines)
Gordon,
The TCLP is not unrepresentative of the conditions right beside a rotting tomato, but it certainly is unrepresentative once you (or the lead  :)  ) are/is a few centimeters away.  The problem occurs when people take the results for the EPA test and think that is what would be leaving the actual landfill.  As I, you, Brian Ellis and many others have shown, this is chemically not the case.

New topic to stir the pot.  :)
I think earlier someone had a few disparaging words to say about BAN.  For those of you that don't know, they are a ground roots eco group in California. They have produced a sensationalist, but gripping documentary about waste electronics taken to China for "recycling".  The images are horrifying for anyone, but especially for a chemist - open burning of PVC coated cables to recover the copper, broken CRT tubes dumped in the open, a man with no more extra protection than rubber boots pouring aqua regia over printed circuit boards and circuit packs to recover the gold.  Certainly the entire landscape of China has not been decimated, but around the five or six villages in the area where this is going on things are pretty bad.  I do not believe we can lay all the blame at the feet of the big, bad West full of consumers and not all the blame can be laid at the feet of the Chinese - there is enough for both!

I am sure that most people do not know that a large proportion (and we can argue about percentages) of electronic stuff they honestly think is being recycled ends up in little villages as I describe above.  So certainly we cannot lay the blame here on the individual consumer.  If you want to talk about consumption itself, well that is another chapter. Certainly some blame can be given to Canada, the US and Europe as political entities that are breaking their own treaties by sending this stuff out of their individual countries.  Expediency and greed are alive and well.

But certainly this is not foisted on the Chinese, they want this stuff.  And it is they that chose to treat the material in such a cavalier fashion.  China is not some dirt poor African nation taking low level radioactive waste for cash because they are absolutely desperate. We are talking about one of the oldest civilizations in the world; with a revived, fast growing economy; a country with many well-trained scientists and engineers.  Again greed is alive and well there too.

So personally I thank BAN for making the film, even if it uses scare tactics.  I will certainly be asking my regional authorities how they plan to deal with electronic waste.  And I think the Chinese authorities need to wake up and think of the long term consequences and not just about the next buck.

Let the games begin.

Opinions are my own, not those of my employer, etc., etc.

And, Brian, this is about lead and I don't have time to subscribe to too many bulletin boards, so I have posted it here and not on your enviro site.  We can discuss it until Jack tells us to stop.  :)

Bev Christian



---------------------------------------------------------------------
This transmission (including any attachments) may contain confidential information, privileged material (including material protected by the solicitor-client or other applicable privileges), or constitute non-public information. Any use of this information by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately reply to the sender and delete this information from your system. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this transmission by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leadfee Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Leadfree
To temporarily stop/(start) delivery of Leadree for vacation breaks send: SET Leadfree NOMAIL/(MAIL)
Search previous postings at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ATOM RSS1 RSS2