China: The electronic wastebasket of the world - CNN.com - 1 views
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Winnie Huang on 24 Mar 14When people decide they have no use for old technology and do not think twice before throwing it out, they probably do not realize that their outdated piece of hardware finds its grave half way across the world. Possibly even in Guiyu, China where the largest electronic waste or "E-waste" dump site exists. People are oblivious to the fact that this is a recurring problem, not just a small matter of sorting and recycling through a few pieces of plastic, metal and wires. This black hole of scrapped computers, television sets, air conditioners and even refrigerators is toxic towards the environment, and is contaminating the growth of crops all around the area, such as rice, from the gases of the poisonous elements contained within the gadgets to make them work. The consuming pile of E-waste is not just environmentally deadly but also causes health hazards, along with the expensive and dangerous recycling operations that are needed. If people continue to neglect this issue, E-waste will continue to grow, swallow the earth with a blanket of harmful bi-products and affect everyone's lives, which is something we do not want. E-waste is hazardous and will eventually kill the planet with the path that it seems to be following without any real rise against the issue. This is such a nice way to give back to the environment don't you think? Polluting the earth and by proxy ourselves with technological garbage is obviously a smart thing to do, as if we aren't destroying the world enough already.