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Home
Updates Archive
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SVTC's Update Archives
International Human Rights Day 2008
This December 10th was the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Human Rights Day. In light of this historic day, SVTC asked everyone to take time to act on behalf of those around the globe who dismantle electronic waste.
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Check Out The Story of Stuff
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh and it just might change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
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Living in Fear:
A Story of E-Waste Pollution on the Erren River in Taiwan
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The Erren River should saunter sweetly through Tainan and Kaohsiung counties, past the city of Tainan, and into the South China Sea on its 65 km journey across southern Taiwan. However, activities along its banks have degraded this river to a foul flow of pollutants bordered by eight-foot-high walls of stripped electronic circuit boards as a result of illegal electronic waste recycling operations.
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Discarded circuit boards stacked along the banks of the Erren River in Taiwan.
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Check Out This New YouTube Video:
Up to 80% of E-Waste from the U.S. is Exported to Impoverished Countries
We all want to recycle responsibly. However, consumers, institutions and businesses who take their e-waste to a recycling center might be surprised to discover that most is being shipped overseas where toxic components are  either openly burned, soaked in acid baths and dumped into rivers or piled into mountains of e-waste for scrap recovery. Impoverished workers, including children, smash leaded glass tubes, breathe lead solder fumes and melt plastics with toxic flame retardants. Use this new YouTube video to help educate your friends, family and peers about the devastating impacts of the global e-waste trade.
University of California Passes Far-Reaching Green Electronics Policies
The University of California 10-campus system has passed a new far-reaching “Environmental Sustainability Policy” that includes provisions on energy, global warming, waste and eco-friendly purchasing. The UC has become the first university in the nation to adopt guidelines for buying "greener" electronics, disposal of e-waste and take-back recycling. Given its size and proximity to the high-tech industry, the UC’s decision could potentially have enormous impacts on how electronics are made and recycled.
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Ever Feel Like A Prisoner to Your Computer?
Someone might be…
While millions of tons of e-waste are shipped overseas, recycling is increasingly being done in U.S. prisons under conditions that endanger prisoners and prison staff. This practice also impacts responsible recyclers by undercutting their costs. Federal Prisons Industries, a government-owned corporation doing business as UNICOR, has built a lucrative prison e-waste business. In 2004, some 1,000 prison workers at seven sites processed nearly 44 million pounds of electronic equipment, making UNICOR one of the nation’s largest recyclers.
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SVTC Releases Book Exposing Global Electronics Industry
26 diverse activists, visionaries, and scholars from around the world document the devastating impacts of electronics manufacturing and how they held the industry accountable in their workplaces, communities, and across borders. Co-editor, Ted Smith, and authors provide a roadmap to challenge the industry on not only what it is doing wrong, but to put its dazzling ingenuity to work and develop cleaner green technologies that are toxic-free and easy to recycle.
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Hazardous Conditions Revealed in Mexican Electronics Factories
Electronics manufacturing workers from around Mexico met for a health & safety training summit in Guadelajara. They were shocked to discover that many of the chemicals they work with are toxic and could possibly be linked to their reproductive problems, skin conditions, and illnesses. These are the exact same problems experienced 20 years ago in Silicon Valley. Workers were trained on how to protect themselves and organize their co-workers to stand up for safer conditions.
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An Interview With an Electronics Industry Watchdog Leader, Ted Smith
Ted Smith, founder of SVTC and co-editor of Challenging the Chip, speaks about the greatest health, environmental, and labor concerns surrounding the electronics industry. He also discusses solutions and the need for consumers to be engaged and help shift the market towards greener products.
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Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition : 760 N. First Street San Jose, CA 95112 : Phone: +1 408-287-6707 : Fax: +1 408-287-6771 : svtc@svtc.org
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