Some of the world’s biggest IT companies and their
suppliers are contaminating rivers and underground wells in
developing countries with a wide range of hazardous chemicals,
according toGreenpeace.
The environmental campaigning group has released a report called
‘Cutting Edge Contamination: A study of environmental pollution
during the manufacture of electronic products’.
Analysis of samples taken from industrial estates in China,
Mexico, the Philippines and Thailand reveals the release of
hazardous chemicals in each of the three sectors investigated:
printed wiring board (PWB) manufacture, semiconductor chip
manufacture and component assembly.
Most noteworthy, said Greenpeace, was the discovery at most of
the investigated sites of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a
group of brominated chemicals used as flame retardants, and of
phthalates, chemicals used in a wide range of processes and
materials, though they are most commonly used as plasticisers
(softeners) in some plastics.
“Over recent years we have seen an increasing concern over the
use of hazardous chemicals in electronic products but attention has
focused on the contamination released during disposal or ‘recycling
of electronic waste’,” said Dr Kevin Brigden from the Greenpeace
Research Laboratories.
“Our findings of contamination arising during the manufacturing
stage make it clear that only when we factor in the complete
lifecycle will the full environmental costs of electronic devices
begin to emerge,” he said.
Zeina Al-Hajj, toxics campaigner for Greenpeace International,
said, “There is shockingly little information on precisely which
major brand companies are supplied by which manufacturing
facilities.
“Responsibility for the contamination lies as much with those
brands as with the facilities themselves.
“There has to be full transparency regarding the supply chain
within the electronics industry, so that brand owners are forced to
take responsibility for the environmental impacts of producing
their goods.”
The study also documents the contamination of groundwater
aquifers at a number of sites, particularly around semiconductor
manufacturers, with toxic chlorinated volatile organic chemicals
(VOCs) and toxic metals including nickel.
Contamination of groundwater is of particular concern, said
Greenpeace, since local communities in many places use groundwater
for drinking water.
At one site, the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZA) in the
Philippines, three samples contained chlorinated VOCs above World
Health Organisation (WHO) limits for drinking water.
One sample contained tetrachloroethene at nine times above the
WHO guidance values for exposure limits and 70 times the US
Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level for
drinking water.
Elevated levels of metals, particularly copper, nickel and zinc,
were also found in groundwater samples in some sites.
The use of such toxic chemicals in manufacturing processes also
poses potential risks to workers through workplace exposure.
Wastewater discharged from an IBM site in Guadalajara, Mexico
contained hazardous compounds, including some (such as the potent
hormone disruptor nonylphenol) that were not found at other
sites.
IBM’s Supplier Conduct Principles Guidelines state that
suppliers should operate in a manner that is protective of the
environment. “IBM should act upon our findings and investigate
activities at the site in order to prevent any releases of
persistent organic compounds from the Guadalajara site,” Al-Hajj
said.
IBM has so far not responded to the Greenpeace report.
Read the Greenpeace report
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