Primitive e-waste recycling could cause major health problems in China

E-waste recycling is becoming a major health concern in developing countries such as China and India. Different electronic waste such as old cell phones and computers are frequently being collected in dumps in developing countries in order to recover precious metals such as silver, palladium and copper.

The main problem is that the incineration process is in most cases very primitive, releasing toxic fumes such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which have adverse impact on human health.

According to researchers at the Oregon State University the residents that live near an e-waste recycling site in China face the increased risk of lung cancer. In their study researchers collected air samples from two rooftops in two areas in China- one from a rural village in the southern province of Guangdong less than a mile from an active e-waste burning site and not surrounded by any industry and other Guangzhou, a city heavily polluted by industry, vehicles and power plants but not e-waste.

The end results of this study were somewhat surprising as researchers concluded that those living in the e-waste village are 1.6 times more likely to develop lung cancer from inhalation than those that lived in heavily polluted city without the e-waste burning site.

However, these results do not come as surprising when you consider that people are recycling e-waste in their yards and homes with primitive techniques that include using utensils and pots to melt down circuit boards and recover metals. It is the process of incineration itself that is causing the exposure through breathing, skin and food.

The researchers estimated that of each million people in the e-waste area, 15 to 1,200 would develop lung cancer on account of toxic fumes (most notably PAHs) over their lifetimes, while the ratio is slightly lower in the city at 9 to 737 per million. Another interesting conclusion was also the fact that the level of airborne carcinogenic PAHs exceeded China's air quality standards 98 percent of the time in the e-waste area and 93 percent of the time in the city.

Cadmium causing huge pollution in Chinese river

Over the last couple of decades China has become one of the symbols for excessive pollution and Chinese are certainly doing their part in prolonging their notoriously poor environmental record with the latest proof coming in form of 20 tons of discharged cadmium poisoning China's Longjiang River.

The authorities still do not know the exact source and the time of the discharge that could poison close to 4 million people that live in the city of Liuzhou.

One of the main downstreams of Longjiang River is Liujiang River that provides drinking water for the 3.7 million residents of the city of Liuzhou.

The city authorities still say that drinking water in Liuzhou is safe for drinking despite having cadmium levels 80 times higher than what is described as the safe limit.

The authorities are trying to tackle cadmium pollution by dumping hundreds of tons of aluminum chloride into the Longjiang River in an effort to dissolve the cadmium but so far less than half of discharged cadmium has been dissolved and neutralized.

Cadmium is a toxic metal heavily used in batteries. Exposure to cadmium can cause adverse health effects by damaging kidneys, and can also cause diarrhea, stomach pains and severe vomiting, reproduction issues and even cancer.

This is just another example of how difficult is for Beijing to improve environmental condition throughout the country with many local authorities choosing to sacrifice environment by giving pollution industries a helping hand in order to boost its economic development.

Why has China become a symbol of environmental pollution?

China is the world's biggest polluter and world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, and the main reason why China has become a symbol for pollution is a rapid (but unsustainable) economic growth. To put it simply, China is sacrificing its environment to please its economy. Such policy is definitely bringing short-term economic benefits but is also doing huge environmental damage to one of world's largest countries.

China still doesn't know how to maintain its economic growth and stop environmental pollution in the same time. China's main interest is shoring up industrial growth, and if the environment has to pay the price then let it be it. But such policy can not survive for very long because China has already started losing valuable natural resources due to excessive water and air pollution.

Zhou Shengxian, the Minister of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China, recently warned that "the depletion, deterioration and exhaustion of resources and the deterioration of the environment have become serious bottlenecks constraining economic and social development."

China definitely needs new environmental policy despite the fact that this may somewhat slowdown China's industrial growth. Short-term damage to industry today is definitely a better option compared to huge long-term damage to both industry and environment in years to come, and this is exactly what will happen if China fails to act quickly.

The environmental pollution issue has so far been neglected in China's economic policy, and this is the main reason why according to the official government statistics nearly 20 percent of the length of China's monitored rivers and lakes had pollution worse than Grade 5, making the water officially unfit for even irrigating crops, let alone drinking. In many large Chinese cities air pollution is out of control, and things are not looking likely to improve any time soon.

China still fails to show the necessary political will to clean its air, rivers, and environment in general. Despite the huge investments into renewable energy coal is still a dominant energy source in China, and coal is the dirtiest fuel of them all.

China's ever improving economic standard means that today more people have access to cars which makes pollution far greater than ever before.

The environmental conscience is very slowly making its way into China's society, and many years will pass before China becomes synonym for green development, despite being the current leader in clean energy race.

And in the meantime China will remain a symbol for environmental pollution. A sad example of what humankind can do to nature.

China shutting down highly polluting power plants?

China is the world's largest polluter with large share of this pollution coming from dirty coal power plants that do not satisfy modern emission standards. China is well aware that its current economic growth can only be supported by coal but by the current looks of it, not at any price. The latest proof to this is order from China's government to shut down more than 2,000 highly polluting, unsafe or energy inefficient plants within the next two months. Power plants that will not comply to these order will face stiff penalties such as not being able to obtain loans, having sewage treatment licences revoked or being refused business licences.

China is putting maximum efforts to significantly increase energy efficiency in country, and it certainly looks like China's premier Wen Jiabao wasn't joking when few months ago said that he would use an "iron hand" to increase energy efficiency. Highly polluting power plants will heavily felt this hand.

According to the World Bank, the industry in China use 20% to 100% more energy per unit of output than their US, Japanese and other counterparts. Improving these numbers will not only mean more positive environmental impact but also better energy security.

Environmentalists are not the only ones supportive of this move but also many energy experts who believe that shutting down inefficient power plants can in the long run provide economic benefits too.

However, there are still many skeptics who believe that China will only temporary shut down these highly polluting plants and open them once demand starts picking up again.

Ocean pollution in China

China is well known for water and air pollution problems, but we can also add the ocean pollution problem to the list of environmental problems that China is facing today. China's coastal waters are getting more and more polluted by almost every possible form of waste, even toxic waste like lead and cadmium.

In fact the situation with lead and cadmium is already out of control because latest report said that levels of lead detected in shellfish were 50 percent higher than normal, while cadmium levels were about 40 percent higher compared to normal levels.

Lead is highly damaging for humans, it can have extremely harmful effect on the human nervous system, and can even cause brain disorder if consumed in excessive amounts.

Polluted coastal waters in China.

The situation with ocean pollution is becoming worse with each year and latest numbers say that 147,000 square kilometres (59,000 square miles) of China's coastal waters failed to meet standards for "clear water" in 2009, a significant increase in ocean pollution of 7.3 percent over 2008. One of the most obvious signs of tremendous ocean pollution in China are algae blooms, that are in most cases caused by excessive sewage, and in 2009 algae bloom affected 14,100 square kilometres which is around 3.5 times the size of the area affected by such blooms in the 1990s.

The multidimensional pollution problem in China is the result of tremendous economic growth in the last 20 years. On one side economy has never felt better, and on the other environment has never been in such poor state. Overall environmental quality is fast deteriorating in China, and China's pollution problem is likely to become even bigger in years to come.

Cleaner air in China due to global economic crisis

When talking about the most polluted country China is usually first thing on our mind which is really no surprise because in the last couple of years China has become synonym for air pollution and smog. But global slowdown in economy which also seriously affects China is doing some positive things and China can finally feel what fresh air is all about. But for how long?

Because of global financial crisis China's ever-increasing energy demand is slowing down, coal-fired power plants have reduced their activities, and air in China is much cleaner than it used to be couple of months ago. Since economy has slowed down it is now much easier for China's government to close many coal powered plants, and this is giving visible results in improved air quality in many Chinese cities. For instance, China's capitol Beijing is breathing one of its cleanest air, in nearly a decade, and same thing happened in many other cities across the China.

However many experts believe how this improved air quality is only temporary and as soon as economy starts recovering things will return to China's usual, namely dirty air once again. But this current situation should at least give China's government an opportunity to enact stricter emissions regulations, and enough time for for each power plant to to adjust their production methods according to these stricter regulations. Global state of the economy has really given China precious time to turn this crisis into an opportunity to enforce stricter regulations which would never happened if coal powered plants continued working with their full capacity.

It is up to China to make the best use of current crisis to improve its environmental conditions, and cleaner air is definitely one of the "must things" for China. China's government has so far spent billions of dollars to ensure clean air with very little effect because China's economy boom never gave them enough time to make the difference. This slowdown is just what China needs to ensure stricter regulation of future environmental standards because it has given China precious time needed for success of this action. Chance is there, and it is up to China to use it while it still can.

China is world's biggest polluter

Energy Information Administration's (EIA) latest study of global emission figures by countries showed that China has officially overtaken US and became world's biggest CO2 emitter. US was number one in 2006 with with 5.70 billion tonnes compared to China's 5.61, but since then China took over with with 6.01 billion tonnes of CO2 compared to US 5.90 billion tonnes. This is mostly because of China's recent economic boom and the fact that China's economy is dominantly based on coal, with very little percentage of country's energy coming from renewable energy sources.

China is now officially world's biggest polluter

It has to be said though that these numbers focus strictly on emissions of CO2 from fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas), the burning of which causes around 57% of total global greenhouse emissions, and do not include non-fossil fuel CO2 emissions like for instance emissions from deforestation. Also it is important to know that China isn't the one mostly responsible for global warming phenomenon because responsibility for causing it is primarily on US shoulders. For instance when we look at the data from 1850 the US has emitted 1088 tonnes of CO2 since 1850 for each of today's Americans which looks gigantic compared to just 68 historical tonnes for each living Chinese person. However one thing is sure, both these countries need to cut down their emissions if we want to save our planet for future generations.

Yellow River heavily polluted

Yellow River is the second longest river in China, and is like many other rivers in China heavily polluted. According to the results of the newest scientific study one third of China's Yellow river is heavily polluted, not safe for normal use, mainly because of China's rapid economic boom followed by vast number of industrial waste. What is even worse is the fact that this river supplies water to millions of people in northern China, so it is really only matter of time before we see rapid increase in waterborne diseases in this part of China.

This region was always among top industry regions in China, now more than ever before, but it has also been known for being chronically short of water. Samples taken from this river showed that 33.8 percent of the river is worse than level 5, meaning not only that this water is unsafe for drinking but also for industrial use and agriculture. Only 16.1 percent of the river samples reached level 1 or 2 — which is level when water is considered safe for household use.

China's Yellow River is heavily polluted

China's main problem is really in local governments that put very little (somewhere almost no) effort to monitor waste disposal process of firms located in their area. What is even worse these polluting firms are protected because they give job to many local workers. In this enchanted circle there is only one result, namely river is treated as a dumping site.

On one hand China is showing signs of tremendous economy growth but the price that Chinese had to pay for this growth was too high. Environmentally speaking China is probably the poorest country in the world, with many different ecological and environmental problems that are becoming bigger and bigger. Levels of water and air pollution are increasing each year, and if local governments continue with their "all goes" rule for industry firms China will very soon experience environmental catastrophe of gigantic proportions.

China - Air and water pollution not improving

China's tremendous economic growth has not been all positive, especially from ecological point of view, with problems like air and water pollution. China's government has taken some serious steps to reduce extreme pollution levels, but things haven't changed for better, in fact most recent data showed that China's air and water pollution are increasing. It is because China's need for energy is constantly growing, and its main energy source is coal. Coal combustion releases many "dirty" particles into air causing air pollution, and China has also recently overtaken USA becoming the world's biggest CO2 emitter.

The latest study showed that only 38 percent of 585 cities surveyed recently registered air quality comparable to national health standards, down from about 45 percent in a 2005 study. Water pollution has also increased because healthy water sources have reduced by additional 7,24 % since 2005. A World Health Organization (WHO) report estimated in 2007 that diseases caused by air pollution kill 656,000 Chinese citizens each year, and polluted drinking water kills another 95,600. China has the highest annual incidence of premature deaths caused by air pollution in the world. There have been also trends of high miscarriage rates and lower IQ rates noticed among population.

Air and water pollution combined are causing deaths of more than 750,000 people per year in China

Coal powered plants, though dominant are not only source of air pollution in China as air pollution is also caused by vast number of China's vehicles. China's government started solving this problem 10 years ago but situation is only becoming worse mainly because provincial and local-level authorities tend to achieve economic growth at all costs which undermines central efforts to make clear progress on air and water pollution.

Such high rates are not only catastrophic only from ecological point of view, there is also tremendous damage to China's economy as well. According to World Bank report in 2007 air pollution is costing China 3.8% of its GDP while water pollution is costing additional 2%. This report also estimated that combined health and non-health costs of air and water pollution had cost China's economy in 2007 at around US$100 billion.

China - Reasons for air pollution

China seriously suffers because of air pollution problem. This huge country is boosting large economic growth lately and owes it almost all to coal and coal is fossil fuel with very harmful effect for environment since it not only releases dangerous greenhouse gases into the atmosphere but also contributes to air pollution.

It's a terrible irony, country with most people in the world has the worst air quality which often results in many respiratory diseases, and some other diseases which at the end cost country much than the renewable energy research. Renewable energy is only hope for countries like China, India and even USA to maintain air quality on acceptable level. While USA has enough funds to invest in renewable energy sector situation is quite different with China and India that are lacking necessary funds and therefore stick with dirty fuels like coal to maintain their rapid economy boost.

This has its price and yet again ecological price since ecology is in many countries only acceptable if economy gives green light. For instance in 1999 carbon dioxide emission reached 18.57 million tons, air pollution emission reached 11.59 million tons and industrial dust emission reached 11.75 million tons, according to statistics released by the State Environmental Protection Administration of China.

Thankfully China is aware of her air pollution problem and tries to fight it if not for anything else than for the 2008 Olympics as they're investing more funds in renewable energy sector and particularly in wind energy sector but as long coal based power plants will dominate China's industry there's really no place for significant ecological improvement.

Last year Beijing and its area were named by the European Satellite Agency as having the world's highest levels of nitrogen dioxide -- a key smog gas originating from power plants, heavy industry and vehicle emissions and inhalable particles had reached a dangerous 300 micrograms per cu meter- meaning that outdoor activities had become hazardous to human health.

There is also the big problem in form of acid rains in China although not this big as air pollution. Acid rain hit more than 30 % of China's area and in some south areas acid rains even exceed 80 % causing great environmental damage and influencing the range of PH level in water.

China is in very delicate situation as their government tries to balance their economy needs with environmental protection and this is very tough to achieve, especially now when China became major player on global industry market, but still not powerful enough to set its sights away from coal. There are some investments in renewable energy sector but coal is still dominant and there's also increase in number of vehicles(as the result of higher living standards) and this will affect China's air and environment in years to come.