Environmental and health challenges of the global growth of electronic waste.

Electronic waste (e-waste) is the fastest growing type of solid waste because of the continual improvement of electrical and electronic equipment. The e-waste recycling business is a large and rapidly consolidating business in all areas of the developed world (US Environmental Protection Agency 2011). The recovery of precious metals, such as copper, gold, silver, and palladium, is the incentive for erwaste recycling. The threats to health and the environment posed by e-waste must also be considered. The management of e-waste has become a global challenge to the environment. By 2020, e-waste from old computers will have increased by 200 % to 400 % from 2007 levels in South Africa and China and by 500 % in India. By 2020, e-waste from discarded mobile phones will be approximately 7 and 18 times higher than 2007 levels in China and India, respectively (United Nations Environment Programme 2012). Despite China’s ban on e-waste imports, the country remains a major e-waste dumping ground for developed countries. Moreover, most e-waste in China is handled improperly, with much of this waste incinerated by backyard recyclers to recover valuable metals such as gold. India’s e-waste recycling industry is dominated by the socalled informal sector, where tens of thousands of people are estimated to make their living from material recovery. Many facilities where e-waste is processed and materials are recovered for recycling are small, independent workshops. There are often few or no real controls over the materials processed in these facilities or their emissions and discharges. A wide variety of organic chemicals and high concentrations of heavy metals have been found in samples of e-waste burning residues collected in China and India. In addition to the effect of the ongoing input to the environment from the open burning of e-waste, workers at a site in Ibrahimpur, New Delhi, India reported that food was often cooked over burning e-waste. There is clear potential for food to become contaminated with the hazardous chemicals identified in the ash from such sites (Brigden et al. 2005; United Nations Environment Programme 2009). In 2009, approximately 171,000 tons of e-waste from consumers, repair shops, and communal collection reached the informal recycling sector in Ghana. Assuming linear growth, the import of e-waste will double by the year 2020. The current situation has led to an important informal Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues