Guardian: E-Waste Industry targeted by Organized Crime
In spite of the raids, many in the industry feel that these directives are not effective enough. "It's a really ugly picture of what's happening on a massive scale," said Ted Smith, an environmental activist who has been giving evidence to the US Senate on the issue. "Around 50-80% of all of the material collected in the US is making its way abroad and significant amounts from the UK and Europe."
"Two years into the WEEE directive the actual amount of WEEE being recorded is around a third of what was projected," said Euan Jackson, managing director of recycling for the waste company Wincanton.
In order to skirt the WEEE directives, broken electronics are frequently labled as functional and shipped on their way to Africa, China, or India, where they are dismantled by hand, frequently by children. PBS Frontline recently published an investigation they did on the e-waste dumping currently going on in these areas.
Original Article: Guardian.UK - Organized Crime targets waste recycling