Globalization, extended producer responsibility and the problem of discarded computers in China: An exploratory proposal for environmental protection

Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, Spring 2002 by Lin, Catherine K, Yan, Linan, Davis, Andrew N

The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them.

A. de Saint-Exupery, 1939

I. OVERVIEW

Personal computers ("PCs") are a measure of a nation's development and an emblem of globalization.1 Per capita ownership of computers is probably as indicative of national wealth and technological prowess as are gross domestic product or median household income. Yet, before ever taking up residence in a home or office in an affluent country, a typical computer will have sojourned through a number of developing or newly industrializing countries. The spatial organization of the manufacturing process means semi-conductors, printed circuit boards ("PCBs") and monitors (also known as "CRTs" for the cathode ray tubes contained therein) could each be produced in a different country, while the assembly of these components into the PC occurs in yet another country.2 Increasingly, the disposal of used computers3 is also assuming a global dimension, except in the reverse order - with discarded4 computers and CRTs from developed countries ("DCs") being shipped to less-developed countries ("LDCs") for recycling and disposal.5

Recycling, or more accurately, the scrapping of discarded computers, is an economically useful but environmentally hazardous activity, due to the large number of toxic substances6 contained in nearly all computer components. The objective of recycling is to extract precious and non-ferrous metals for resale in secondary markets. Absent the use of proper pollution control equipment and techniques, the extraction of such metals from PCBs and plastic-coated cables often exposes workers and nearby residents to toxic substances released during the process. Residuals from the extraction processes also contain hazardous substances that require proper disposal. Scrap CRTs, which contain high-lead content glass, scrap plastics, and fire-retardant additives, pose just as many environmental, health and safety concerns as PCBs, but have far less economic value. These CRTs are likely to be landfilled or incinerated, introducing toxic substances and metals into the air or permitting the same to leach into soils and groundwater. Hence, from an environmental perspective, the end-of-life disposition of computers confers spatially disparate costs and benefits to the DC consumers and the LDC recyclers.7

In this article, we consider the environmental issues raised by computer scrapping in the People's Republic of China, in light of that country's ongoing integration into the global economy. Additionally, we present a preliminary exploration of how the globalization process may help China protect its environment without undermining the growth of its information technology ("IT") industry. We focus on China because it receives and scraps a significant amount of discarded computers from the DCs. Yet, as a global product, computer recycling poses environmental challenges that transcend national boundaries and demand a global solution. An essential part of such a solution would be to foster an environmentally sound computer de-manufacturing practice in China. Before haphazard computer scrapping can be replaced with proper end-of-life management of that product, we have to identify the DCs' rationale for exporting discarded computers to countries such as China for recycling, understand economic exigencies that gave rise to the current level of computer scrapping, recognize the impact of such activities on that country's environment and public health, and propose a de-manufacturing regime that is both well-tailored to China's current economic, political and legal conditions and capable of assisting with the integration of China into the larger global solution.

Recent studies suggest that globalization, measured in terms of foreign trade and foreign direct investment ("FDI"), could have a positive impact on China's environment. In particular, the need to comply with the environmental requirements of the importing DCs can lead the exporting LDCs to raise their own environmental standards, so that the environmental requirements and practices of both DCs and LDCs would converge over time. If we can obtain this environmental convergence, then it seems incumbent upon us to consider whether convergence will lead to the environmentally sound management of computer end-of-life issues. Accordingly, we examine the issues and explore a possible solution while relying on two analytical underpinnings: (1) a consideration of how globalization can promote convergence of a performance norm among trading partners, and improve and upgrade the environmental governance of the LDCs over time;8 and (2) a review of selected waste electronics and electrical equipment ("WEE") take-back initiatives found in Europe and Asia that impose responsibility on producers and/or consumers, as the case may be, for the environmentally sound management of WEEE, including proper recycling of used computers to recover materials of economic value and the establishment of associated financing and a WEEE collection infrastructure. To the extent that the salient elements of a WEEE take-back scheme can be adapted for the conditions in China, we would expect the resulting legislation to reflect the interaction of legislation and market forces - for law to leverage its effectiveness from the market and for the market to receive the needed impetus to function in an environmentally more protective manner.