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It's a shame that most e-waste recycling in China is not as clean and neat as this. Case in point, the town of Guiyu: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,2

by angusgr 15y ago

It's a shame that most e-waste recycling in China is not as clean and neat as this. Case in point, the town of Guiyu: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1870162_1822148,00.html http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1870162_182214... http://www.viceland.com/int/v14n9/htdocs/ctrl.php# http://www.viceland.com/int/v14n9/htdocs/ctrl.php# (Don't get me wrong, responsible e-waste recycling is to be lauded and encouraged - it's all the more important because of places like Guiyu. I'm not too surprised Nokia choose to focus on one angle while not really mentioning the other one, though.)

angusgr 15y ago
most e-waste recycling in China is not as clean and neat as this Now I come to think about it, the original blog post shows 3 people working hot air desoldering stations without any visible ventilation, and with only one wearing a thin respirator. So it's probably not all that healthy for the workers even there. At least in the photos I've seen of Chinese electronics assembly factories, the workers have extraction units for their soldering stations.
- sliverstorm 15y ago
  Do desoldering stations actually generate enough fumes to be comparable to actual soldering? When I do hot-air rework, I rarely see any smoke at all, unless I have just put a lot of flux down.
  - angusgr 15y ago
    Yeah, you might be right. My understanding is the bulk of (at least visible) fumes when soldering are from flux, but there are other fumes present. When you're not temperature controlled then you probably have other things melting and fuming up as well though, depending on how deft you are.
angusgr 15y ago
Going over the comments on the Nokia post again, it seems like the situation is yet more complex, maybe the Guiyu stories are not the majority case that it's been made out to be: http://www.motherboard.tv/2011/3/26/e-waste-recycling-exports-are-good http://www.motherboard.tv/2011/3/26/e-waste-recycling-export... http://shanghaiscrap.com/?p=6448 http://shanghaiscrap.com/?p=6448 Either way, this makes for really interesting reading.

by angusgr 15y ago

angusgr 15y ago

most e-waste recycling in China is not as clean and neat as this Now I come to think about it, the original blog post shows 3 people working hot air desoldering stations without any visible ventilation, and with only one wearing a thin respirator. So it's probably not all that healthy for the workers even there. At least in the photos I've seen of Chinese electronics assembly factories, the workers have extraction units for their soldering stations.

sliverstorm 15y ago
Do desoldering stations actually generate enough fumes to be comparable to actual soldering? When I do hot-air rework, I rarely see any smoke at all, unless I have just put a lot of flux down.
- angusgr 15y ago
  Yeah, you might be right. My understanding is the bulk of (at least visible) fumes when soldering are from flux, but there are other fumes present. When you're not temperature controlled then you probably have other things melting and fuming up as well though, depending on how deft you are.

angusgr 15y ago

Going over the comments on the Nokia post again, it seems like the situation is yet more complex, maybe the Guiyu stories are not the majority case that it's been made out to be: http://www.motherboard.tv/2011/3/26/e-waste-recycling-exports-are-good http://www.motherboard.tv/2011/3/26/e-waste-recycling-export... http://shanghaiscrap.com/?p=6448 http://shanghaiscrap.com/?p=6448 Either way, this makes for really interesting reading.