Comments on: The Electronics Junkyard Dismantlers of Guiyu

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:32:41 +0000

Well, *fuck*. Instead of paying to ship this shit half way across the world to a third world country and destroy the local environment, they could be giving this stuff away to electronic hobbyists here in the states. It’d be a win-win situation, positive sum. What we’ve got right here and now is a lose-lose situation, negative sum. What is wrong with people?

By: RtJm

RtJm — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:55:06 +0000

greenpeace should back off.sure its bad for the people, but take away their waste, you take away all they have. they will never grow there again, too contaminated, remains(plastic shards and toxic residues and contamination) will be there forever. they all looked pretty happy. greenpeace pushes their belifs on people more aggresively than islamists

By: chris h.

chris h. — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:54:17 +0000

i have to wonder…do these countries like china and india PAY american corporations for their scraps so that they can cheaply employ thousands of people?

no doubt this is grossly irresponsible on the part of the united states–of all nations, we should be pioneering a global effort to reduce pollution from e-waste since we have so much electronic junk in our lives. i for one am a bit less ignorant after having read this article.

By: Karl

Karl — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:36:10 +0000

Thank you for writing up on this topic. It is important that first people are aware of this growing disaster. If anything will be done about it first people do need to be educated so that they can then make better choices as a consumer.

Also, thank you for placing my blog link under the Guiyu child picture. It has helped bring some traffic to my blog as well. I will be checking back to your site. Best wishes!

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:54:23 +0000

It seems that some companies have got the message. I recently had to have a property cleared after a relative died, and, after a long search, found a company called City Clearances to do the job. After doing the probate valuation, they came along to clear the house. I asked Jeff, the director, what would happen to the contents, and he said that only 10% at most would go to landfill. In particular, all computer equipment, including a 10 year old Dell, would be recycled. For E waste, he has a technician who refurbishes and repairs old equipment, particularly computers, and he assured me that ‘almost nothing’ was thrown away. With computers, the low spec ones are sent to companies in the UK who use them as ‘dumb terminals’. I thoroughly recommend City Clearances, http://www.cityclearances.com as a company with the right ethos when it comes to environmental issues.

As they say on their website, recycling is not only energy efficient, but it makes good financial sense too, as there is money to be made in selling refurbished goods. (although the profits are small, the environmental gain is large.)

By: rkolter

rkolter — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:18:06 +0000

I agree with Mike, and with Kevin. There is no reason why a 7 year old computer needs to be thrown out – they can and should be donated to organizations that will reuse them. The Salvation Army does this; someone who can’t afford a new computer would be just fine with a 7 year old system for doing mail and the like.

I also agree with Kevin – An American recycling company isn’t sending this stuff to Guiyu. There is a chinese recycling firm paying these people to do this stuff. Think about it – where would a rice farmer in China get Aqua Regia? Don’t blame a consumer for recycling a system; blame the recycling company the system eventually ended up at for using unsafe practices.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:25:00 +0000

The computers there didn’t just get dumped by some American recycling company. The article is cartoonishly misleading in that respect. OH NO! THE BAD GUYS ARE CUTTING DOWN ALL THE TREES! No, the bad guys work for a timber company and they’re trying to scratch out a living. Likewise, somebody in Guiyu owns a recycling company. This company is responsible for the pollution and the unsafe work practices. Don’t blame America for this.

By: David Sutherland

David Sutherland — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:00:19 +0000

We should be ashamed of our consumption??? How about China should be ashamed of it’s human rights abuses! How does any civilized society allow it’s people… and it’s environment to be polluted like this? The answer is greed. It’s not American greed to purchase a new computer and to offer the old one to be recycled, but it’s Chinese local goverment and regional governmental greed that does not pass and enforce safety laws. Well economic disparity may be leveling… and that may be China’s only hope. — Perhaps America should pass a law disallowing export but to countries that have safety laws in place. It sounds good on paper but ultimately local governments must enforce their own safety laws due to any openness in commerce.

By: Jason G

Jason G — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:24:42 +0000

These people are stupid enough to pollute their only water source and scavage for parts rather then continue to grow rice, I see nothing in this article that states that this isn’t a voluntary action on the part of the town. The only people I feel even partially bad for is the children who have such stupid parents.

By: JW

JW — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:09:02 +0000

What i would like to know is what brought the waste there in the first place, this article and none of the sources have that information.