A review of the environmental fate and effects of hazardous ...

A. Sepúlveda et al. / Environmental Impact Assessment Review 30 (2010) 28–4139and North-American WEEE up to the final destination and theprevention of illegal or doubtful exports can substantially contributeto lessen hazardous emissions from global WEEE, as well as toimprove the recovery of valuable substances contained therein.6. ConclusionThis review of data on the environmental fate and effects ofhazardous substances released from WEEE during informal recyclingoperations in China and India suggests a causal relationship betweenthe release of Pb, PBDEs and dioxins/furans and the determinedconcentrations in environmental components (e.g. soil and air), biotaand humans. The comparison with reference values from variousnational and international standard documents leads us to theassumption that emissions originated from these recycling operationscause serious detrimental effects on humans and to the environment.Most affected are WEEE recycling workers through direct exposure toPb, PBDEs and dioxin pollution in the ambient air. However long-rangetransport of pollutants was observed as well, which suggest a risk ofsecondary exposure also for remote areas. Leachates from bottomashes, informal dump sites and toxic liquids from acid and cyanideleaching activities have been identified as the other important sourcefor the contamination of environmental compartments and anincreased human exposure through affected natural resources suchas soils, crops, drinking water, livestock, fish and shellfish.These findings clearly indicate an urgent need for better monitoringand control of the informal recycling sector in China and India.However, since the livelihoods of large population groups depends onthe income from recycling activities, it is paramount to include theinformal sector into formal WEEE recycling systems instead of tryingto eliminate the informal sector. Possible solutions should include thecreation of transparent and in-praxis workable interfaces between“informal” collection and dismantling/pre-processing with industrialscalematerial recovery and control of hazardous fractions.AcknowledgementsThe authors are grateful to Zita Sebesvari and Lorenz Hilty for theirconstructive comments on previous drafts of this paper and to OliviaDun for language editing.ReferencesAlaee M, Arias P, Sjödin A, Bergman Å. An overview of commercially used brominatedflame retardants, their applications, their use patterns in different countries/regions and possible modes of release. Environ Int 2003;29:683–9.Allsopp M, Costner P, Johnston P. Incineration and human health. state of knowledge ofthe impacts of waste incinerators on human health. Greenpeace Research Laboratories.United Kingdom: University of Exeter; 2001. http://www.scientificjournals.com/sj/ehs/Pdf/aId/3759.Adriaens P, Fu Q, Grbic-Galic D. 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