REPORT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS

California has the strictest e-waste laws in the nation, but a KPIX5 investigation discovered the strict laws have led to dumping our electronic junk in someone else’s back yard, causing serious damage.

A mountain in the Arizona desert that’s not on any map was discovered five years ago.  A closer look reveals the mountain is made of glass from old TVs and monitors, full of lead and other toxic heavy metals. Most of it, some 41 million pounds, from California.

We pay an extra fee when we buy a new TV or computer to get the old stuff properly recycled. In most cases it is shipped out of state. The owner of the Yuma property, called Dlubak Glass, received millions of dollars from those California fees to recycle the glass, but never finished the job.

After we alerted California officials back in 2009, they cracked down, ordering recyclers to stop shipping old TVs and monitors to Yuma. Arizona filed suit. But the fine, $120,000 dollars, was a mere slap on the wrist.

See more at :

http://www.ban.org/2014/06/13/californias-e-waste-ending-up-in-toxic-mountain-of-junk-in-arizona/