Four months ago, 178 nation states voted to prohibit all exports of hazardous wastes, including electronic wastes. Yet, so-called “e-wastes” – particularly from discarded mobile phones – continue being dumped across the developing world, especially in West Africa. In an attempt to stem this “rising tide”, two UN agencies last week signed a new agreement to facilitate collection and recycling of such wastes. However, they have a daunting task ahead: only 13% of e-wastes are currently being recycled.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11568.