Dirty Business: E-waste in Nigeria (BBC) {Audio/Podcast}

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Vast amounts of waste are exported daily from the industrialised world to developing countries - all in the name of recycling.

But much of this trade is illegal, dangerous and environmentally disastrous to the countries who receive it.

Liz Carney travels to India, Nigeria, Czech Republic and the USA to lift the lid on the multi billion dollar trade that dumps western waste on some of the world's poorest nations.

Part Two: E-waste in Nigeria

The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that worldwide, 20 to 50 million tons of electronics, computers and other techno junk is discarded each year, increasingly ending up dumped in developing countries.

Liz Carney reports from Lagos, Nigeria, where some 400,000 second hand computers, three quarters of which cannot be re-used, are imported every month.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/documentary_archive/6214888.stm

download http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/downloadtrial/worldservice/documentaryarchive/documentaryarchive_20061215-1200_40_st.mp3

podcast http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/downloadtrial/worldservice/documentaryarchive/rss.xml

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1. update: now a regular Web page

Nigeria fears e-waste 'toxic legacy'
By Liz Carney
BBC World Service's Dirty Business

The accumulation of mountains of electronic waste in Nigeria - increasingly the world's PC dumping ground - has so alarmed the country's government that there is now a national committee to deal with the problem.

Up to 50 million tonnes of old PCs are thrown away each year on waste dumps where they pose a pollution threat to the environment and to people.

Legislation exists that should prohibit the simple sending of old PCs to be dumped - but the problem is that Nigeria's booming second-hand computer industry gives ample scope for computer waste to be smuggled in.

Most used machines are not tested for functionality before they are exported to Nigeria, and according to John Oboro, assistant general secretary of the dealers' association Capdan, there are far more bad computers coming in than good.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6193625.stm