Vital Waste Graphics 3

Waste Body Burden Health concerns affecting waste workers and people living close to landfills or incinerators

Notorious World WEEE 1 dumps

PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE ORGAN

SYSTEMS TYPICALLY AFFECTED BY WASTE EXPOSURE [ IN ORDER OF VULNERABILITY] 1 - Central nervous system Particularly affected by: Lead, Mercury, Beryllium Arsenic, Antimony Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

Brain

Taizhou Province, China (WENLING, LUQIAO)

DELHI, India

Nose

GUIYU , China

MUMBAI, India

KARACHI, Pakistan Shershah

CHENNAI, India

Mouth

ACCRA, Ghana

LAGOS, Nigeria

4 - Respiratory Particularly affected by: Mercury, Arsenic Hexavalent Chromium

Agbogboshie

Thyroid

In red, the name of the scrap yards where e-waste is "recycled".

Breast

Breast

Heart

[ milk ]

E-waste destination countries

1 - Waste electrical and electronic equipment

Suspected e-waste destination countries

Lung

Lung

Liver

Stomach

2 - Digestive and urinary Affected by: Lead, Cadmium, Antimony, Dioxins and Furans, BFRs, Vinyl Chloride (from PVC), PCBs.

Associated heavy metals levels

Pancreas

Sources: Greenpeace, Recycling of Electronic Wastes in China and India: Workplace and Environmental Contamination , 2005; Greenpeace, Chemical Contamination at e-waste recycling and disposal sites in Accra and Koforidua , Ghana, 2008.

Kidney

Dust, soil or sediments (direct residues like ashes and wastewater excluded) sampled in and around the studied e-waste scrap yards and workshops.

Ovary

Milligram of specific heavy metal per kilogram of dry weight in samples

10 000

60

Guiyu average

3 - Reproductive and endocrine Particularly affected by: Lead, Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs), Dioxins and Furans

9 000

Lead

Delhi

50

Peak values reached when separating components and recovering solders (using heating or mechanical shredding).

8 000

7 000

40

6 000

Delhi average

Guiyu

5 - Blood Particularly affected by Lead and Mercury

30

5 000

Cadmium

Peak values reached when recovering glass from cathode-ray tubes and when burning waste.

4 000

20

Other more general toxics-related illnesses include cancers , skin diseases, impaired immunity, general weakness and depression.

6 - Skeleton Particularly affected by Cadmium

3 000

Accra average

2 000

10

NB: the height scales are different

1 000

Accra Less than 2

Uncontaminated soil values around 30

Source: Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, 2010; Metro lines adapted from Sam Loman, 2011 (www.just-sam.com).

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VITAL WASTE GRAPHICS 3 27