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Magazine 26 Script: AD angerous Junkyard

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Magazine 26 Script: AD angerous Junkyard
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Magazine 26 Script: A Dangerous Junkyard



Signature Tune Begin.mp3



Anchor 1



Hello, you are listening to Panoscope, a fortnightly radio magazine produced by

Panos Radio South Asia. On this edition of Panoscope, we go to North Chennai

in South India, where dumping of obsolete electronic goods from across the

world is bringing about an acute environmental crisis.



In: SFX A Dangerous Junkyard.mp3



Anchor 2



We also hear a worker who is earning his living by extracting metals dangerously

from electronic scrap.



In: SFX Arun Kumar O-T.mp3



Bridge Begin.mp3



Anchor 3



Arun Kumar is a father of two who makes a living by collecting electronic scrap.

He dips circuit boards in and out of acid filled drums, stripping the boards of its

last remnants of copper and traces of silver. His family also helps him in the

process. None of them wear a mask to ward off the noxious fumes. It is a

dangerous life… Arun spoke to Panoscope.



In: Arun Kumar O-T Final Mixdown.mp3



My name is Arun Kumar. I earn a living by selling the waste and scrap of old

computers and refrigerators. I have two children. I earn about 50 to 100 Indian

Rupees a day. I was born and bought up in Chennai. I collect the plastic that lies

thrown around the streets and burn them together and sell them to big dealers.

Apart from this I also take out scraps from computers and collect the useful

metals and sell them.



I earn a paltry sum in this manner. My entire family depends on my wages. Now

my wife and children have also started collecting scrap. They segregate the

waste for me to break them down later and extract the metals. We usually put the

waste in acids or burn them to extract the metals. In the process, our eyes and

hands hurt and feel like it is being burnt. Sometimes the skin peels off. But we do

not know any other work as we are illiterate. So we depend on this for our

existence. Children often complain that their eyes are burning and they cannot

breathe. But what to do, this is our fate. This is how we live daily.



Nobody from the government or anywhere has come to see us or provide any

relief. Only people who come here are a few from the media or students from

foreign nations who visit this junk yard. We live in a small hut near the junkyard.

Even if we are sick we have to go to work otherwise we have to starve that day.

We don’t even have the money to visit the doctors if we are ill. We often get skin

diseases. But still we cannot afford to do anything about it. We apply some mud

over it and get back to work or our children will starve that day.



We have no clue about what goods are being sent to our agents. We do

whatever the agent asks us to work on. What does it contain? What is the value

of the product? How much profit do they make? We have no clue. All we know is

that our daily wage is 150 rupees. This is our entire world.



Bridge End.mp3



Anchor 4



Ever wondered what happens to old computers, television sets and mobile

phones when people across the world go in for newer models? It is most likely

that they end up in junkyards in India, waiting to be recycled, in the most crude

and hazardous manner.



After China imposed a ban on the import of e-waste in 2002, India has emerged

as one of the largest dumping grounds for the developed world. Once the

electronic equipment, mostly computers, turn obsolete in the West, they are

exported as e-waste into the South Asian market, mostly to India and Pakistan. A

large number of workers who work in this recycling industry, extracting useful

metals from electronic waste or e-waste are putting both their health and the

environment to great risk. Panoscope correspondent Gokul Nair reports from

Chennai, India.



In: A Dangerous Junkyard Final Mixdown.mp3



Fade In: SFX New Moore Market Ambience.mp3



Link 1



We are at the New Moore Market which is in largely underdeveloped North

Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The business here makes money out of electronic scrap

dumped by developed nations. The money is good, the risks grave: But there is

very little concern about the risks or long term implications of this business.

The market streets are usually choked with smoke from burning electronic junk.

Children playing with the hazardous waste strewn around is a regular sight.

In a bid to eke out a living, the junkyard hands who work for a pittance double up

as rag pickers. They scour the city for plastic scrap and smelt them along with

plastic wastes from wires and electronic equipment. These wastes are then

molded into plastic blocks which are sold to bigger dealers to earn a few extra

bucks. Metals like iron, copper and gold are extracted by burning the scrap or by

soaking them in concentrated acids. Workers plunging their hands into chemical

solutions and treating the gold-coated areas in circuit boards to recover wee bits

of gold, is not an uncommon sight. The burning and melting of these toxic

substances put workers’ health at risk. They are living testimonies of breathing

problems and skin ailments that they refuse to share with us for fear of losing

their jobs.



Act 1 Worker



We get waste and scrap both from within the country and abroad. We mostly get

televisions, computers and refrigerator spare parts through our agents. We take

out all the useful materials from the scrap and throw away or burn the rest. We

get copper, iron, gold and brass from these scrap. We break the printed circuit

boards into small pieces and send them back to the big dealers.



Link 2



New Moore Market alone has a worker strength of 50 which includes women and

children. The workers are paid a daily wage of 100 to 150 Indian Rupees,

depending on their workload. These workers are just a small fraction of a huge

population who are part of this illegal but flourishing trade. It is the worker who

bears the brunt; it is the worker who compromises his health… all for a paltry

sum. The bigger scrap dealers or agents make quite a killing, collecting metals

like gold and copper from the scrap. Agents claim they need to burn the waste

from at least ten computers to extract a gram of gold.



The business goes well beyond these local agents. The big computer

manufacturers with global presence have been adopting a double standard

recycling policy for developed and developing countries. This, because

developing countries easily twist environmental laws and regulations to suit the

trade and economy. Chirantana Kar, a Project Head at Toxic Links, an

environmental organization has this to say…



Act 2 Chirantana Kar, Project Head – Toxic Links



They are the developed nations and we are the developing nations so the rules

are actually different for them and for us. If you see, for example, I-B-M and H-P

are major manufacturers of computers, they have different rules for the U-S-A

and different rules for us. H-P has a recycling sector in the U-S. H-P follows a

take-back-policy in the U-S but it doesn’t follow any such rule in India. They have

no such rules when it comes to countries like us.

Link 3



However, the Basel Convention was formulated to promote cleaner technology

and ban import of toxic waste, including obsolete computers. India ratified this

convention in 1990.



Despite this, Chennai has been importing computer scrap from the U-S-A,

Singapore, Malaysia, the Middle East and Belgium. Absence of proper legislation

and proper technology to scan imports have seen increased import of hazardous

e-waste masquerading as mixed waste or plastic scrap. There are also cases

where obsolete junk come in as charity or donations to schools and educational

institutions. Exporting countries justify it, stating they are providing some form of

employment to developing countries. But Sudhakar, an environmental activist

has a different tale to tell.



Act 3 Sudhakar, Environment Activist



In developed countries, the laws and regulations are quite strict. If somebody

wants to send a computer to a junkyard it is not that easy. He needs to go to the

recycler, give the computer there and get a certificate before he buys a new

computer. What happens to these computers is that the so called recycler buys

it, charges him a recycling fee of 5-10 US Dollars and he repacks it and sends it

across to a country like India. What happens here is it is the money in the front

end and at the back end. It is ten times more profitable for a guy in the U-S to

send it across to another country than reprocessing it in his own backyard. They

do it in the garb of saying that they are providing employment, but they are

actually killing the people. It is a very selfish attitude.



Most of the electronics are manufactured in countries in Asia. Countries like U-S

are only [the] users. They want to use the benefits of it. They don’t want to take

up the manufacturing process so as to conserve their natural resources. That is

why the manufacturing is done in some place, the user is in some other country

and the waste is sent back to the other countries. Underdeveloped and

developed countries are using their natural resources, manufacturing products

for someone else, and the post consumer waste comes back to these Asian

countries. Primarily the sufferers are India, China, Pakistan, Cambodia and

smaller countries.



Link 4



Experts say the failure to categorize e-wastes has been one of the major reasons

for the continuous flow of imports. The International Trade Classification System

has also failed to allot a specified code to electronic wastes. Hence, the waste

sneaks into the country in the name of mixed plastic or metal waste. The scrap

dealers claim that sometimes they themselves are also not aware of what their

cargo shipment might contain since the codes may differ from plastics to metal or

even animal wastes. Nityanand Jayaram of Corporate Accountability Desk

shares his views.



Act 4 Nityanand



International trade is tracked by the governments across the world using a

harmonized system of codes called the international trade classification codes.

These are eight digit numbers that are given to all commodities. Cow dung has a

number, horse manure has a number, zinc, ash has a number, but unfortunately

e-waste does not have a number. So when computer scrap comes into a country,

its either clubbed under a larger grouping like the plastic scrap or mixed plastic

waste or thing that have an I-T-C-H-S code. As a result the assessing officer at

the concerned port with the customs is unable to distinguish the electronic scrap

consignment. He would have to open every container to find out. Basel

Convention recognizes the E-Waste as a hazardous waste owing to the

contaminants in it. There is no clear way by which the importing – exporting

country governments can exercise a check on the movement of electronic scrap.

Nobody has moved in the Basel Convention asking for a specialized code. So as

a result though there is a lot of talk about this, there is no way actually to check

this menace.



Link 5



Experts say it is high time that India adopts China's strategy of stringent trade

regulations on e-waste; either by organizing the recycling sector or by advocating

environmentally sound technologies.



Till that day dawns, these scrap workers will continue to heave and sigh to eat

one square meal.



Fade Out: SFX New Moore Market Ambience.mp3



Bridge End



Anchor 5



That’s it for this edition of Panoscope. Thanks for listening.



Fade In: Signature Tune Ends



Panoscope is an independent production of Panos Radio South Asia. We’re

committed to providing a forum for voices, views and issues not often heard in

the mainstream media. If you have suggestions for future programs, please

contact us at:

Panos Radio South Asia

G.P.O. Box 13651

Kathmandu, Nepal

Or you can call us at 977-1-5521889

Our website is www.panosradiosouthasia.org

Until next time…


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