UN: Discarded e-waste may wreak havoc in Third World

SALES of household electrical gadgets will boom across the developing world in the next decade, wreaking environmental havoc if there are no new strategies to deal with the discarded TVs, cell phones and computers, a UN report said yesterday.

The environmental and health hazards posed by the globe’s mounting electronic waste are particularly urgent in developing countries, which are already dumping grounds for rich nations’ high-tech trash, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) study said.

Electronic waste is piling up around the world at a rate estimated at 36 million metric tons a year, the report said, noting that data remain insufficient.