Why is e-waste a growing concern?

No one can deny that identity theft and fraud are growing. But it's not just online criminality that's a problem. Anyone determined enough can find personal and sensitive information by simply sorting through rubbish, including electronic rubbish or "ewaste". Where are your old computing systems going to end up? In a landfill, in a skip, in the hands of identity thieves? Maybe they might take a trip abroad. Then a whole new set of issues raise their head.

In China, open-air burning and acid baths to recover metals from electronic products are commonplace, and the residual waste soaks into the ground and water. Indonesia reportedly has a special zone that is exempt from any government regulation, where electronic waste is dismantled, crushed, and melted. In Cambodia, broken electronics often end up in ordinary municipal dumps where adults and children scavenge for scrap for as little as $1 a day. In India, thousands of workers, including children break apart used electronics with their hands, melt them with acid baths, and openly burn wires and plastic casings to get at gold, copper, and other metals.