The Shadow of E-Waste: China's Environmental Impact and Struggle

The Shadow of E-Waste: China's Environmental Impact and Struggle

### Introduction: The Shadow of Rapidly Growing E-Waste
At the beginning of the 21st century, China rode a wave of rapid economic development and technological innovation to become the world's largest producer and consumer of electronic devices. However, behind this prosperity, a mountain of e-waste has been quietly piling up, casting a dark shadow over the environment and people's health.

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### Chapter 1: The Crisis of 2003: The Rise of E-Waste and Its Impact

In China in 2003, the increase in e-waste was a serious environmental problem. In particular, the amount of cell phone and computer waste increased rapidly, and there was a series of cases of illegal dumping without proper disposal. as of 2003, the number of mobile phone users in China reached approximately 257 million, and with the shortening life cycle of electronic devices, millions of tons of e-waste were generated every year.

#### Crisis in Guiyu Town, Guangdong Province
Guiyu Town in Guangdong Province, China, is known as the world's largest e-waste disposal site. About 15,000 people were engaged in recycling-related work here, where electronic equipment was disassembled by hand and metals were recovered. However, many of the operations were not accompanied by appropriate safety measures, and during the process of washing substrates with acid and extracting gold, toxic gases were dispersed into the surrounding area, causing heavy metal contamination of soil and water.

#### Recycling Projects in Guizhou Province
In Guizhou Province, the country's first full-scale e-waste processing facility was opened in 2002. Here, a project was launched to recover precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper from used electronic equipment. However, the facility's processing capacity could not keep up with the rapid increase in waste, and illegal dumping and unauthorized dismantling by collection companies were rampant. The environmental impact of the project had not yet been reduced.

#### Health Hazards from E-Waste
E-waste contains toxic substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and there is concern that the dispersion of these substances in groundwater and air may have adverse effects on human health. A survey conducted in Guangdong Province reported that lead levels in the blood of workers involved in e-waste disposal operations were two to five times higher than normal, and the health hazards, especially for children, were pointed out as a serious problem.

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### Chapter 2: Where We Are in the 2020s - Regulations and New Challenges

In the 2020s, China's e-waste problem has reached a further turning point. As the world's largest producer of e-waste, it will generate approximately 100,000 tons of e-waste annually by 2020. This means that about 70% of the world's total e-waste is processed in China, and the environmental burden remains severe.

#### Guiyu Town, Guangdong Province Today
Guiyu Town, once a symbol of illegal recycling, has seen a significant reduction in the number of illegal recyclers in recent years due to stricter government regulations. However, small-scale operators still exist, and manual metal recovery that does not meet safety standards is still taking place. According to a survey by the Ministry of Environment, there are still areas where the concentration of lead in the soil exceeds five times the standard value as of 2023.

#### E-waste recycling site in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province
The city of Taizhou in Zhejiang Province is being developed as China's official e-waste recycling hub. However, the concentration of recycling plants in the vicinity of an agricultural area and the water pollution caused by chemicals generated during the processing process have become a problem. The balance between the environment and industry is being questioned, especially as local residents file a lawsuit against the city for groundwater contamination in 2022.

#### Government and Corporate Initiatives
The Chinese government has banned the import of e-waste and revised the recycling law, along with enforcing the Producer Prolonged Responsibility System (EPR). Major companies such as Huawei and Lenovo are also actively working on sustainable product design and recycling systems; in 2023, Lenovo launched a full-scale project to collect and recycle used laptops, helping to improve recycling rates.

--- Lenovo

### Summary of related information

- **Electronic waste growth**
- **2003**: millions of tons of e-waste generated annually
- **2020**: approx. 10100000 tons per year (70% of the world's total is processed in China)

- **Major affected areas**.
- **Guiyu Town, Guangdong Province**: World's largest e-waste processing site; soil lead concentration exceeds 5 times the standard
- **Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province**: Official recycling site, groundwater contamination problem is apparent
- **Guizhou Province**: First domestic e-waste treatment facility opened in 2002

- **Environmental and health impacts**
- **Toxic substances in e-waste**: lead, cadmium, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
- **Study in Guangdong Province**: Many workers with blood lead levels 2 to 5 times the normal level

- **Government and corporate initiatives**
- **Introduction of the Producer Prolonged Responsibility (EPR) System**
- **Import ban on e-waste**
- **Lenovo used laptop collection project (2023)**