I've had a lot of interest in the 'China e-waste' album in my portfolio which you can find on the first screen of the portfolio page, ninth album along.
So today I decided to upload more photos from a recent trip to Guiyu, the 'e-waste processing capital of China', that I made as part of a field project for my MJ course at the University of Hong Kong's JMSC. I have put these photos at the back of the album, behind the photos from Guangxi Province and Hong Kong that I took in 2007 and 2008. I've posted a few of them here on the blog page, but if you want to see them in their full screen beauty just go to the Portfolio page, then click on the full screen icon which looks like this: .jpg)
For those who are unfamilar, Guiyu is centred at the centre of the world's 'e-waste' processing industry. Illegal container loads of discarded electronic goods from the United States, Japan and Europe, find their way to China via the port of Hong Kong. Most of it usually ends up in Guiyu for 'recycling' at informal e-waste processing factories, of which there are around 3,000 in the town. Computers, printers, keyboards, CRT monitors, mobile phones, and other obsolete high tech junk can be seen in large piles strewn across Guiyu.
Much of the work is highly lethal. Migrant workers dip computer integrated circuit boards into vats of sodium cyanide to extract lead and precious metals, such as gold, silver and cadmium. This is by far the most poisonous and dangerous e-waste processing job of all, as most workers get sick from doing this job within a month. Many soon die. The waste solution can contain lead, dioxins or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and is usually discarded by pouring the solution into the soil. It then leeches into the water table and the nearby Lianjiang River, leaving it severely poisoned.
The open burning of electronic items like printers and fax machines takes place on the banks of the river in Guiyu. This is so that metal components encased inside the items can be retrieved from their plastic shell for recycling. Obviously, this a less than ideal solution for the region's air quality.
The image quailty of some the photos is not great as I was shooting through a dirty windscreen most of the time (I never got out of the car is it's quite unsafe there), but I think the pictures speak for themselves.
With all the toxic lead and dioxins flowing into the tributaries of the Lianjiang River, which runs through Guiyu, I do wonder if the water in Hong Kong is safe to swim in. This is given the vast amounts of dioxins and heavy metals that flow into the sea at the river's estuary near Shantou, Guangdong Province, which must occasionally wash southwards towards Hong Kong on the ocean currents.
Basel Action Network seem to be the most active NGO on this issue. Check out their website here.
I never knew about this.
I never knew about this. When you say it's not safe, exactly what do you mean?
Cognitive Dissonance
I wonder to what degree many Westerners are aware of how much they are involved in, contributing to, or even directly responsible for the environmental and human tragedies that occur in China. How blurred are the lines between voluntarily doing something to doing something because it's what you have to do for something else. It takes two tango. You can't help but disrespect the Chinese for doing this to themselves, but you can't help despise the world for being unfair either.
Thanks for the daily demoralizer, Alex. Now go resell more puppies to North Korea or something.
Congratulations Alex!
Congratulations Alex! Looking forward to seeing more nice photos from you! by the way, there might be some technical problems on the web, i.e. I clicked the Twitter sign, but it didn't link me to any where.
Turns out that it's my
Turns out that it's my laptop's problem. got ur twitter page by clicking the little bird sign. Cool website indeed! Congratulations again.
Safety in Guiyu?
Christopher - What I mean is that the e-waste business owners in Guiyu do not like outsiders snooping around their dirty deeds - be they foreigners or Chinese. Reporters and NGO types are definitely not welcome.
I heard from a journalism student at the nearby Shantou University that only a few months ago a Chinese photographer for a Chinese newspaper got beaten up there.
Migrant workers in the town who hail mostly from Sichuan Province are happy to be photographed, but as soon locals see an outsider with a camera it is not unknown for them to call the goon squad to chase that person out of town. The locals know they are doing bad stuff. Obviously the police are in on it too.
I was there for two days in total. On the second day there was no open burning going on. I asked why and I found out that the locals had got wind that a delegation from the Central Government in Beijing were coming down to check out the situation, but had been tipped off by someone in either the Guangdong Provincial Government and/or someone at county level.
So it's a kind of opaque corrupt and gangstery situation. Does that answer your question?
Alex
Westerners are also to blame?
I try not to draw racial distinctions. We are all human. Most of us on this small planet of ours are short-sighted and stupid. So I blame capitalism and the the system it engenders.
And I won't be drawn into that divisive China vs the West narrative (again!)
Thanks, Lydia.
Your compliments on my new website are most appreciated.
Why blame the ambiguous
Why blame the ambiguous entity called "capitalism"? Why not blame those who are responsible, who, I might add, would most definitely NOT categorize themselves as capitalists?
It's not "capitalism" - this is a cop-out and offers a pass for those INDIVIDUALS who are responsible. Hold them accountable - if you can offer me a reason why capitalism is actually, factually to blame, so be it. I have yet to hear such an argument.
I blame the system that fails us AND the individuals concerned.
These are not mutually exclusive.
The reason capitalism is to blame is because it is exactly the ideology that makes it profitable for all the unwanted broken toxic electronic trash to be exported legally or illegally from the West. It is capitalism that also promotes the use of cheap labour from far-flung provinces. Migrant workers get sick and die, and no one cares as there's plenty more where they came from. Greed is at the source of the problem. And greed is the life blood of capitalism.
cloudy photos
and i thought the cloudy photos were because of all the toxic bonfires.
i think you can still "safely" splash around any of the LCSD managed beaches as long as you wear a full body dry suit line with neoprene.
do not take the puppies with you.;-)
cloudy photos
and i thought the cloudy photos were caused by the toxic bonfires.
i think swimming in any of the LCSD managed beaches is still safe as long as you wear a full body dry suit lined with neoprene & an underwater helmet (dont want to risk having disfiguring dermatitis). do not bring the puppies.
CBS 60 min
Just for your information CBS' 60 minutes had run a piece on Guiyu last Oct. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4586887n
It's interesting that we talked about 60 minutes' piece in CBS office just few days before I saw your entry, Check that out.
CBS 60 mins guiyu piece
We just talked about the piece in CBS office fews days before I saw your entry. Check it out http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4586887n
CBS 60 Minutes - Guiyu
I've seen it. It's very good. It features Jim Puckett from the Basel Action Network who I linked to in the bottom of my post.
And again here: http://www.ban.org/
Thanks Matt, for providing the link for others to see.
Alex
Living For A Day On e-Waste
So will the regulations coming into effect in 2011 cleanup the place?
This seems like an extremely short sighted act by the residents of Guiyu probably born out of poverty and ignorance.
Banning imports in 2002 doesnt help. Unfortunately action on the ground, like banning the activities by these home-based recyclers were not taken.
Wonder how many generations needed to clean up the environment again. Biological life will die off, but the environment will heal if the activities stop.
Waiting for an enterprenuer to come to Guiyu and take over all these recycling activities from these ignorant or desperate people.
you should get out of your
you should get out of your car to shoot better photos.
Of course you are right Jim,
...but I didn't fancy getting beaten up for a jpeg. I know where the line is, and when it is safe to cross it or not. Discretion being the better part of valor, and all that.
Alex
its realy good
Thanks, for the good articles ...I am very intiresting..
its realy good
Thanks, for the good articles ...I am very intiresting..
Very nice
I love the pictures you provide for us to see. I can see you have a good eye for photography, you also explain what the picture is. People don't take pride into anything anymore. Good to see their are some people that still take passion into their work.
Thank you very much for the
Thank you very much for the excellent and useful subject.
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Hey,Alex I happen to, well,
Hey,Alex
I happen to, well, enter you homepage. As a Chinese, I am ashamed and shocked of my ignorance of this serious situation, but happy to find that there are many who are concerned about this matter as well. Unfortunately, outside of Guiyu, in other parts of China, we know little about it. I've just visited the official website of Guiyu, and sadly found little about environmental problems. However I just want to say thanks to you all and show my concern as well.
(I'm not so good at English. I wish I had not make big mistakes. lol)
Celia
Hey,Alex I happen to, well,
Hey,Alex
I happen to, well, enter you homepage. As a Chinese, I am ashamed and shocked of my ignorance of this serious situation, but happy to find that there are many who are concerned about this matter as well. Unfortunately, outside of Guiyu, in other parts of China, we know little about it. I've just visited the official website of Guiyu, and sadly found little about environmental problems. However I just want to say thanks to you all and show my concern as well.
(I'm not so good at English. I wish I had not make big mistakes. lol)
Celia
sfdw
thanks admin..
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