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RE: Looks Like
By number999 on 11/30/2006 3:48:34 PM , Rating: 4
respectible recycling company which would actually PAY to ship all of this stuff over there... would first check to see if it works or not
There are a couple of points against this and they are pretty self evident. You basically have to pay for someone to look at the electronics. This is expensive in itself and only makes sense for latest models where obsolesence is the least. These get donated for use by charity or resold. The article doesn't even say that the companies spend money to get the stuff over there. Lastly, the expense of having to look after and dispose of the hazardous material in the e-waste may make it cheaper to ship it out than dispose of it locally. Shipping it out also allows it to be recycled because of the cheaper labor but at an environmental cost in these poor countries. Let's call it what it is and not charity by any amount.

It's also fairly obvious you didn't even look at the article. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme made the speech at the opening of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, which is specifically targeted at the exportation of e-waste from 1st world countries to poorer countries. Where did it say he demands charity for the needy? His complaint is that 75-80% of this charity is nothing but garbage and totally unusable.
private enterprise is helping bring those into the modern era
Achim Steiner said if the material was usable but like the article says it's 75-80% junk. It's a UN problem because it is an international problem with huge amounts of money involved and yes, corruption and pure exploitation. 1st world gov'ts don't have a lot do with it but companies operating in them do. Recycling isn't done with any environmental standards but done at the lowest cost with harm to the local environemnt and people.

Some background to the problem of exportation of waste.
The high tech trashing of Asia
War, Murder, Rape... All for Your Cell Phone
Study: E-waste dumping victimizes developing nations

As for this rating up and down business part of the problem is the self rightous attitude in his own beliefs and the truth he puts in them. Give me a break -
the insanity of the liberal ellite
my thoughts and beliefs are right in line with everyone I know... with the majority of the country
How parochial. Not only that, as if even if he represented the majority, the majority is always right? Talk about tyranny of the majority. How about the world?

...conservative viewpoint, which, on this site, is not the majority. (This makes no sense to me as I would think logic minded people would be more conservative than liberal)
This made me laugh. He thinks his own position is already so logical that his viewpoint is right, based on his own readings. This labelling is nonsense. I suggest looking up the origin of the term liberal and liberalism and it's pitfalls. Classical liberalism makes most modern conservative ideas look like pablum. As for expressed opinions, there are more than a few conservative views out there, from what i've seen on other postings and the ratings given out.

He already has a preconceived notion in his head about the way things are. Everything else is liberal wrongness when in actuality something this complicated contains a lot of grey. Are there advantages? Of course but not to even acknowledge the existence of negative effects is blind and labelling objections and objectors even worse.

Oh ya, voting down is the easiest way to get rid of the most offensive posts. It takes time to write something and time shouldn't be wasted.

RE: Looks Like


RE: Looks Like


RE: Looks Like


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