Guiyu (Chinese: 贵屿), in Guangdong Province, China, is widely perceived as the largest electronic waste (e-waste) site in the world.
[3] The constant movement into and processing of e-wastes in the area leading to the harmful and toxic environment and living conditions, coupled with inadequate facilities, have led to the Guiyu town being nicknamed the "electronic graveyard of the world".
[6] The CCP viewed the more adaptable 'informal' sector, capable of disassembling and recycling diverse electronic components, as unfair competition.
[6] Once a rice village,[7] the pollution has made Guiyu unable to produce crops for food and the water of the river is undrinkable.
Workers use their bare hands to crack open electronics to strip away any parts that can be reused—including chips and valuable metals, such as gold, silver, etc.
Workers also "cook" circuit boards to remove chips and solders, burn wires and other plastics to liberate metals such as copper; use highly corrosive and dangerous acid baths along the riverbanks to extract gold from the microchips; and sweep printer toner out of cartridges.
A 2008 study titled Heavy Metals Concentrations of Surface Dust from E-Waste Recycling, and Its Human Health Implications in Southeast China[12] examined environmental and human health risks in Guiyu by collecting dust samples from workshops, roads, a schoolyard and an outdoor food market that sells fish, vegetables, and meat.
Symptoms in adults include high blood pressure, decline in mental functioning, pain/numbness of extremities, muscle weakness, headache, stomach pain, memory loss, mood disorders, fertility problems, and a higher probability of miscarriages.
This industry employs tens of thousands of people and dismantles 1.5 million pounds of discarded computers, cell phones, and other electronics each year.
Greenpeace has been lobbying large consumer electronics companies to stop using toxic substances in their products, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
[19] In 2005, a Planet Funk video for their song "Stop Me", shows the situation throughout the city, with people living and working inside an e-waste environment.
However, the local government has created steps to improve environmental conditions because of the work of activist groups and increasing awareness of the situation.
[20] Zheng Songming, head of the Guiyu Township government has published a decree to ban burning electronics in fires and soaking them in sulfuric acid and promises supervision and fines for violations.
Over 800 coal-burning furnaces have been destroyed because of this ordinance, and most notably, air quality has returned to Level II, now technically acceptable for habitation.
In 2013, 《汕头市贵屿地区电子废物污染综合整治方案》(Comprehensive Scheme of Resolving Electronic Waste Pollution of Guiyu region of Shantou City) was approved by Guangdong Province government.
[21] Part of this scheme involves building and relocating all the workshops into an industrial ecology park where the wastes can be properly treated and recycled.