In unregulated conditions, workers are rarely protected by any health or safety laws when processing E-waste. The workers that process E-waste are the ones that are most adversely affected. This is exacerbated by the presence of protective materials or lack of awareness about the dangers present.
Direct or indirect exposure to the toxins present when processing E-Waste (Wath, Dutt, & Chakrabarti, 2011) can lead to:
Seizures, Developmental Problems, Retardation
High Blood Pressure, Irregular Heartbeat
Kidney, Liver and Digestive System Damage, Ulcers
Lung Damage, Asthma, Bronchitis, Cancer
Mouth, Teeth, Gum Damage
Workers and communities near backyard recycling sites are exposed to the highest level of exposure to these hazardous substances. Not only are we exploiting the environment, we are also exploiting these workers as they are the ones handling our E-waste.
However, the workers or communities living in close proximity to E-waste are not the only ones in danger. As developed countries move our own E-waste to landfills and incinerators, we are also exposed to ecological threats. Landfillls causes air pollution and leach toxic chemicals into our groundwater. When E-waste is incinerated, chemicals released into the air are known to cause a large number of health risks (Scott, Amel, Koger, & Manning, 2016). Lastly, Singapore has only one landfill at Pulau Semakau, which is to say that we cannot keep increasing the amount of E-waste as our finite resource, space, will run out.