With the advent of electronic devices, our life has become more and more convenient. For example, because of smartphones, we don’t have to remember a lot of information.
To enjoy the convenience of electronic devices, we replace our electronic products more and more often. But what we do we do with the old ones? Some choose to sell them to someone who needs them. Even more choose to throw them away.
Almost 70 percent of the world’s electronic waste is being exported to Guiyu. The Shantou region of China is a huge electronic-waste processing area. The rest of the waste is being exported to the cities of developing countries such as India, Pakistan, and Nigeria from the USA, Japan, Korea, and Europe.
This is because people in many developed countries object to building the waste processing areas where they live.
Because of our exported electronic waste, over 150,000 people are employed as e-workers. Meanwhile (and woefully), because of our e-waste, such as lead and barium from old televisions and computer monitors that we’ve thrown away, e-workers in Guiyu are suffering from lead poisoning.
Shockingly, a very high percentage of Guiyu children already have high levels of lead, which can impact their IQs and the development of their central nervous systems.
Truth be told, it’s an age-old issue. Even though it was quite jolting for the world when the city became known for its problems in 2002, not many people even remember it anymore.
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t buy new electronic devices. I recommend that people exchange their electronic items or sell them to others who need them.
As well, we all need to keep an eye on this issue and we need to push society to take care of this suffering city.
Change doesn’t come easily. But when everyone’s efforts are collected, change will come little by little.