Concerns about the international e-waste trade have led to responses from governments and businesses. The 1992 Basel Convention has banned the export of e-waste to developing countries. However, the US is notable in being the only industrialised country not to have ratified it.
Companies have devised multi-stakeholder initiatives such as Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI). These bring together various industry players to work towards sustainable approaches of dealing with e-waste.
The European Community’s Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) directive has been implemented at the regional level to target electronics manufacturers. Its effect has been to require European manufacturers to take back and recycle products and dispose of any that cannot be refurbished or recycled in an environmentally sustainable way.
The Basel Action Network and the Electronics TakeBack Coalition (ETBC) are seeking more national legislation stopping the export of e-waste to developing countries.
Whilst these actions have stopped developed countries from exporting their e-waste disposal problems to the third world, it is happening indirectly. When mobile phone recyclers in the developed world sell working mobiles to developing countries for resale and reuse, what happens in a few years time when they are life expired? Are they recycled rersponsibly? Sadly the evidence suggests otherwise and mobile technology and other e-waste are fast becoming major health hazards in many developing countries.