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NAIROBI - Western donations of old computers, mobile phones and televisions could be toxic "hand-me-downs" posing a hazard to the environment of poor countries, a major United Nations conference will hear this week.
Delegations from 120 nations meeting in Kenya will focus on the estimated 20-50 million tonnes of so-called "e-waste" generated globally each year, much of it shipped to the developing world.
"We want developing countries to receive usable items," said Sachiko Kuwabara Yamamoto, head of the Basel Convention, which monitors hazardous waste.
"Of course, who pays for this is a big issue," she said.
Western consumers who donate old equipment to poor nations, especially in Africa, could be adding to a multitude of environmental problems there, officials say.
One study in Nigeria said about 500 containers of second-hand electronics arrived at Lagos seaport every month.
But dealers said most of it was "junk" - so obsolete it could not be repaired.
Much of it was burned at open-air dumps, releasing toxic fumes and chemicals into surrounding soils.
Under consideration are proposals to make manufacturers - including some of the world's top computer companies - take more responsibility for their products, from the design stage to final disposal. The UN Environment Programme estimates that between 14 milion and 20 million PCs are thrown out each year in the US alone.
Activists say if manufacturers had to pay recycling costs, they would create less toxic, longer-life products.
Yamamoto hailed a four-year partnership with 12 mobile phone manufacturers including Vodafone, Nokia and Sony Ericsson to develop strategies for the recycling and re-use of the more than 600 million phones sold worldwide every year.
As well as "e-waste", delegates will also consider what to do with thousands of aircraft and ships expected to go out of service and be scrapped before the end of the decade.
It will also focus on strengthening nations' obligatory reporting on waste shipments, thought to have increased more than four-fold around the world in the past decade. Only about 70 per cent of Basel signatory nations file reports.
"The reporting we have at the moment is really just the tip of an iceberg," said Yamamoto.
- REUTERS
