Environmental groups are looking to develop new ways to better harness the pgm content of e-waste, as a new report reveals electronic devices dismantled in Asia are a growing source of toxic waste.

A new report from Greenpeace International has claimed that the levels of contamination in the discarded devices are higher than had been expected.

As such, many environmental groups in the USA are looking for a ban on export of electronic waste to developing countries, as well as legislation to force electronics manufacturers to safely recycle their products.

China's Guangdong Province and two districts of New Delhi were targeted by the research, because they are known to dismantle discarded American electronic devices so as to recover various precious metals, including platinum.

But the levels of toxic metals found as part of the dismantling process were so high that experts are now calling for more effort to be put into developing new methods of dealing with the growing e-waste problem.

Technology firms are being urged to develop new ways to dismantle products, so that the precious metals can be extracted safely and without harming the environment or the public.

The extent of the problem is so great that Arnold Schecter, professor of environmental sciences at the University of Texas School of Public Health, has questioned the worth of recycling, commenting: "I think we're fooling ourselves. We think we're doing the right thing by recycling, but we're harming people in less developed countries."


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