[GreenKeys] Incredible . . .

[Craig Sawyers]

> 5) How soon might it come to pass that normal lead-bearing solder is
> outlawed, and we have to rely on stashed supplies of old stock?
> (Remember
> "The Freon Experience".)

Here's an interesting thought - each year, ten of millions of computers are
scrapped as owners upgrade.  These old computers are very toxic - lead,
cadmium, mercury - it is all in there.

Well, I caught a news item last night - most of it finds its way to India.
Ship loads of it, from the US, the UK, continental Europe and Russia where
disposal is too expensive.  In India, there is an maffia-run operation, in
which ranks of children and the destitute sit on the dirt floor with a
hot-plate in front of them.  Boards go on there to reclaim the solder, and
loosen the components.  Everything is removed and sorted - screws,
resistors, chips etc.  Children are valued in this because of their small
nimble fingers.  The rest of the junk (bare boards mainly) is piled up to go
heaven knows where.

The local watercourses are so polluted through this activity that drinking
water has to be trucked in.  Heath and safety is a desk fan behind each
worker to blow the fumes away.  They earn the equivalent of $10 a month.

So here we are in our comfortable high-earning Western life-style, quietly
exporting our pollution to third word countries.  There are few mitigating
excuses that I can think of, frankly.  The particularly scary thing is that
we each have legislation in our respective countries that allows this sort
of activity.

<rank mode off>

Craig