E-waste and Child Health

15 June 2021

Electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) is the fastest growing domestic waste stream in the world. The problem is most severe where impoverished city dwellers work in or live near informal dumps and landfills. These unmonitored sites in low- and middle-income countries receive a large share of global e-waste. E-waste contains valuable materials, such as gold and copper. E-waste can be harmful to the health of humans and the environment if it is recycled inappropriately and without sufficient training, protection, infrastructure, equipment or safeguards. Children are particularly vulnerable to some of the toxicants found in, or produced by, e-waste and e-waste recycling activities.

The WHO Initiative on E-waste and Child Health, started in 2013 aims to increase access to the evidence and knowledge base; spread greater awareness about the health impacts of e-waste; particularly in children; improve health sector capacity; promote e-waste exposure monitoring; facilitate relevant research; and develop and test country-based pilot initiatives to reduce e-waste related health risks. In June 2021, WHO published Children and digital dumpsites: e-waste exposure and child health, its first-ever report detailing the scope of the effects of e-waste on child health.

Kwadwo Ansong Asante

Millions of children are exposed to e-waste

Globally, more than 18 million children and adolescents between 5 – 17 years of age are engaged in industries of which waste processing is a subsector. E-waste recycling work can be considered child labour as it is potentially detrimental to children’s physical and mental development. Children as young as 5 years of age have been reported working in the sorting, dismantling and recycling of e-waste.

Kwadwo Ansong Asante

As many as 12.9 million women are at risk of dangerous e-waste exposure

Using the most recent estimates of the total number of informal waste workers worldwide, between 2.9-12.9 million women, including women of child-bearing age, may be at risk from exposure to toxic e-waste, placing themselves and their unborn children at risk.

WHO

53.6 million tonnes of e-waste produced in 2019, much of it sent to low-and middle-income countries for disposal

The Global E-waste Monitor 2020 estimated that 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste were produced in 2019. Of this only 9.3 million tonnes reached formal waste management or recycling facilities. Significant amounts of e-waste are suspected to be shipped overseas to low- and middle-income countries, where there may be a lack of regulation, or when regulation does exist, it may be poorly enforced. Here, e-waste is dismantled, recycled, refurbished or discarded, often in informal setting using hazardous methods and activities. E-waste contains valuable materials, including copper, gold, silver and cobalt, and has become an increasingly common source of income.

WHO/A.T. Mwaura

Dangerous methods are used to recycle e-waste in informal dumps

Informal e-waste recycling and activities have been documented in countries around the world. Activities include manual dismantling, open burning, heating and acid leaching and open dumping of unwanted items. These methods of e-waste recycling can pollute the air, dust, soil, water, food and animals. The dark stains seen on the ground in this photograph indicate that e-waste has been burnt in this location and lead now pollutes the soil. Lead exposure, even at low levels, is hazardous to the healthy development of children. Across the world, e-waste recycling sites can be highly diverse in terms of their size and characteristics. This photo shows waste burning at Agbogbloshie, Ghana, a vast dumpsite that has rudimentary scavenging, as well as workshops and retail kiosks that refurbish and resell used items and provide skilled apprenticeships to young people. In Agbogbloshie women and girls are often seen at e-waste recycling sites selling cold drinks and snacks to recyclers.

Fernando Diaz Barriga

As many as 1,000 harmful substances may be released during e-waste recycling

Informal e-waste recycling and activities releases as many 1,000 harmful substances, including lead, mercury, nickel, brominated flame retardants and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. This photo shows waste, including e-waste, being burnt in Mexico using a brick kiln. Brick kilns produce significant amounts of air pollution, potentially contaminated with heavy metals and other toxicants, that can pose significant risks to kiln workers and nearby communities. This photo shows a different recycling scenario than the previous photo. In some Latin American countries e-waste recycling can be more dispersed, done on a small-scale in people’s homes, backyards and scattered across community areas, and is often recycled alongside municipal waste, making it a less visible activity. These activities often occur in low socio-economic neighbourhoods and areas, where they may not have access to health care systems.

WHO

Children are more vulnerable than adults to toxicants from e-waste

Children are more vulnerable than adults to toxicants released through e-waste due to their smaller size, less developed organs and rapid rate of growth and development. Prenatal and childhood exposure to informal e-waste recycling activities has been linked to a number of adverse health effects including negative birth outcomes, impaired neurodevelopment, changes in lung function and respiratory effects, DNA damage, impaired thyroid function and increased risk of some chronic diseases later in life, many of which may not be immediately evident.

Julia Gorman

Safely extracting resources from e-waste produces less carbon dioxide than mining for new materials

Extracting resources from e-waste using safe extraction technologies reduces health risks and also produces substantially less carbon dioxide than mining the same materials, benefiting the environment and reducing climate emissions, targets that many countries are committed to. The Global E-waste Monitor 2020 found that the 9.3 million tonnes of e-waste that were formally recycled in 2019 saved as much as 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxideequivalents from being released into the environment. This photo shows a public recycling bin in Australia where different types of e-waste can be deposited and safely recycled.

Jutta Gutberlet

Several international and regional conventions exist to reduce illegal e-waste shipments

Several international and regional conventions aim to reduce illegal e-waste shipments from high-income countries to low- and middle-income countries. These include the Basel Convention, the Bamako Convention and the Waigani Convention.

WHO

The health community can take action to raise awareness on the dangers of e-waste

The health community can take action to reduce adverse health effects from e-waste by building health sector capacity to diagnose, monitor and prevent toxic exposure among children and women, raising awareness of the potential co-benefits of more responsible recycling and advocating for better data and health research on the health risks faced by informal e-waste workers. Health professionals hold unique positions as they able to advocate for international, regional, national and local policies that will protect human health from e-waste. At the same time, they are trusted sources of information and can play a key role at the local level by working through primary health care services or by working directly with communities affected by or involved in informal e-waste recycling and related activities.

WHO

WHO is working with international organizations, governments and communities to combat negative health effects linked to e-waste

In addition to implementing the goals of the WHO Initiative on E-waste and Child Health, WHO is working with international organizations, other United Nations agencies, as a member of The E-waste Coalition, and its global network of collaborating centres to compile research and build health professionals’ skills using the WHO training package on children’s environmental health, including a module on e-waste, and a massive open online course focussed on e-waste. WHO is also working at regional and local level, in collaboration with regional offices and a range of local communities, governments and UN agencies in the Region of the Americas and the African Region on pilot projects to develop frameworks to protect child health from e-waste exposure, and which can be adapted and replicated in different countries and settings.