Electronic Waste Cleaning (e-waste)

The EPA works bilaterally with governments and environmental authorities around the world on e-waste management. The US EPA and the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (Taiwan EPA) coordinate the International E-Waste Management Network (IEMN), which has established countries in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and North America to exchange best practices on e-waste management. Bringing environmental officials together. Waste Management Since 2011

EPA efforts support the United States government's National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship, which details the federal government's plan to increase the management of electronics throughout the product lifecycle.

The EPA also collaborates with the Solutions to the E-Waste Problem Initiative (STEP) exit to jointly address the problem of e-waste in developing countries. STEP, formerly known as UNU-STEP, was previously an initiative under the United Nations University (UNU). The EPA and UNU signed a cooperative agreement to work together on e-waste, first in November 2010 and then in 2015. Some of the tasks undertaken by UNU-STEP included port-in-the-port tracking of the global flow of e-waste. Project in Nigeria, optimization of an e-waste disposal facility in Ethiopia, and development of a tool to help collect information on the amount of e-waste generated within countries and exported to others. The EPA is a founding member of the STEP Initiative and serves on the STEP Supervisory Committee.

What is e-waste?

The terms "e-waste", "electronic waste", "e-scrap" and "end-of-life electronics" are often used to describe electronics that are nearing the end of their useful life, and are discarded, donated, or given to a recycler. Although "e-waste" is a commonly used term, the EPA considers e-waste a subset of used electronics and recognizes the inherent value of these materials that can be reused, refurbished, or recycled. in order to reduce the actual waste that has been disposed of in a landfill or improperly in an unsafe dumpsite in the US or abroad.

An undetermined quantity of used electronics is shipped from the United States and other developed countries to developing countries that refuse imports or lack the ability to handle these materials appropriately. Without proper standards and enforcement, unfair practices can result in public health and environmental concerns, even in countries where processing facilities exist.

We have serious concerns about the unsafe management of used electronics and e-waste in developing countries, resulting in harm to human health and the environment. For example, there are problems with open-air burns and acid baths to recover valuable materials from electronic components, which expose workers to harmful substances. There is also the problem of leakage of toxic materials into the environment. These practices can expose workers to high levels of contaminants such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic, which can cause irreversible health effects, including cancer, miscarriage, neurological damage, and low IQ.