Did you ever wonder what happens to your old laptop or cellphone when you throw it away ? Chances are some of your old electronic junk will end up in China . According to a recent United Nations report , `` China now appears to be the largest e-waste dumping site in the world . '' E-waste , or electronic waste , consists of everything from scrapped TVs , refrigerators and air conditioners to that old desktop computer that may be collecting dust in your closet . Many of these gadgets were initially manufactured in China . Through a strange twist of global economics , much of this electronic junk returns to China to die . `` According to United Nations data , about 70 % of electronic waste globally generated ended up in China , '' said Ma Tianjie , a spokesman for the Beijing office of Greenpeace . `` Much of [ the e-waste ] comes through illegal channels because under United Nations conventions , there is a specific ban on electronic waste being transferred from developed countries like the United States to countries like China and Vietnam . '' For the past decade , the southeastern town of Guiyu , nestled in China 's main manufacturing zone , has been a major hub for the disposal of e-waste . Hundreds of thousands of people here have become experts at dismantling the world 's electronic junk . On seemingly every street , laborers sit on the pavement outside workshops ripping out the guts of household appliances with hammers and drills . The roads in Guiyu are lined with bundles of plastic , wires , cables and other garbage . Different components are separated based on their value and potential for re-sale . On one street sits a pile of green and gold circuit boards . On another , the metal cases of desktop computers . At times , it looks like workers are reaping some giant plastic harvest , especially when women stand on roadsides raking ankle-deep `` fields '' of plastic chips . In one workshop , men sliced open sacks of these plastic chips , which they then poured into large vats of fluid . They then used shovels and their bare hands to stir this synthetic stew . `` We sell this plastic to Foxconn , '' one of the workers said , referring to a Taiwanese company that manufactures products for many global electronics companies , including Apple , Dell and Hewlett-Packard . Dirty , dangerous work . This may be one of the world 's largest informal recycling operations for electronic waste . In one family-run garage , workers seemed to specialize in sorting plastic from old televisions and cars into different baskets . `` If this plastic cup has a hole in it , you throw it away , '' said a man who ran the operation , pointing to a pink plastic mug . `` We take it and re-sell it . '' But recycling in Guiyu is dirty , dangerous work . `` When recycling is done properly , it 's a good thing for the environment , '' said Ma , the Greenpeace spokesman in Beijing . `` But when recycling is done in primitive ways like we have seen in China with the electronic waste , it is hugely devastating for the local environment . '' According to the April 2013 U.N. report `` E-Waste in China , '' Guiyu suffered an `` environmental calamity '' as a result of the wide-scale e-waste disposal industry in the area . Much of the toxic pollution comes from burning circuit boards , plastic and copper wires , or washing them with hydrochloric acid to recover valuable metals like copper and steel . In doing so , workshops contaminate workers and the environment with toxic heavy metals like lead , beryllium and cadmium , while also releasing hydrocarbon ashes into the air , water and soil , the report said . For first-time visitors to Guiyu , the air leaves a burning sensation in the eyes and nostrils . Toxic tech . Studies by the Shantou University Medical College revealed that many children tested in Guiyu had higher than average levels of lead in their blood , which can stunt the development of the brain and central nervous system . Piles of technological scrap had been dumped in a muddy field just outside of town . There , water buffalo grazed and soaked themselves in ponds surrounded by piles of electronic components with labels like Hewlett-Packard , IBM , Epson and Dell . The enormous animals casually stomped through mounds of sheet glass , which clearly had been removed from video monitors . Flat screen displays often use mercury , a highly toxic metal . `` Releases of mercury can occur during the dismantling of equipment such as flat screen displays , '' wrote Greenpeace , in a report titled `` Toxic Tech . '' `` Incineration or landfilling can also result in releases of mercury to the environment ... that can bioaccumulate and biomagnify to high levels in food chains , particularly in fish . '' Most of the workers in Guiyu involved in the e-waste business are migrants from destitute regions of China and poorly educated . Many of them downplayed the potential damage the industry could cause to their health . They asked only to use their family names , to protect their identity . `` Of course it is n't healthy , '' said Lu , a woman who was rapidly sorting plastic shards from devices like computer keyboards , remote controls and even computer mice . She and her colleagues burned plastic using lighters and blow-torches to identify different kinds of material . `` But there are families that have lived here for generations ... and there is little impact on their health , '' she said . Several migrants said that while the work is tough , it allows them more freedom than working on factory lines where young children are not permitted to enter the premises and working hours are stringent . Used to be worse . Despite the environmental degradation and toxic fumes permeating the air , many in Guiyu said that conditions have improved dramatically over the years . `` I remember in 2007 , when I first came here , there was a flood of trash , '' said Wong , a 20-year-old man who ferried bundles of electronic waste around on a motorcycle with a trailer attached to it . `` Before people were washing metals , burning things and it severely damaged people 's lungs , '' Wong added . `` But now , compared to before , the [ authorities ] have cracked down pretty hard . '' But residents who did not work in the e-waste business offered a very different take on the pollution in Guiyu . A group of farmers who had migrated from neighboring Guangxi province to cultivate rice in Guiyu told CNN they did not dare drink the local well water . They claimed if they tried to wash clothes and linens with the water , it turned fabrics yellow . The head of the group , who identified himself as Zhou , had another shocking admission . `` It may not sound nice , but we do n't dare eat the rice that we farm because it 's planted here with all the pollution , '' Zhou said , pointing at water-logged rice paddy next to him . Asked who did eat the harvested rice , Zhou answered : `` How should I know ? A lot of it is sold off ... they do n't dare label the rice from here as 'grown in Guiyu . ' They 'll write that its rice from some other place . '' Not that surprising considering that the latest food scandal to hit the country earlier this month is cadmium-laced rice . Officials in Guangzhou city , roughly 400 kilometers away from Guiyu , found high rates of cadmium in rice and rice products . According to the city 's Food and Drug Administration samples pulled from a local restaurant , food seller and two university canteens showed high levels of cadmium in rice and rice noodles . Officials did not specify how the contaminated rice entered the city 's food supply . CNN made several attempts to contact the Guiyu town government . Government officials refused to comment on the electronic waste issue and hung up the phone . However , it did appear that government efforts to restrict imports of foreign waste are reducing the flow of e-trash here . `` Why are they stopping the garbage from reaching us ? '' asked one man who ran a plastic sorting workshop . `` Of course it 's hurting our business , '' he added . Domestic e-waste grows . The Chinese government had some success regulating e-waste disposal with a `` Home Appliance Old for New Rebate Program , '' which was tested from 2009 to 2011 . With the help of generous government subsidies , the program collected tens of millions of obsolete home appliances , according to the U.N . Even if Chinese authorities succeed in limiting smuggled supplies of foreign garbage , the U.N. warns that the country is rapidly generating its own supply of e-waste . `` Domestic generation of e-waste has risen rapidly as a result of technological and economic development , '' the U.N. reported . It cited statistics showing an exponential surge in sales of TV 's , refrigerators , washing machines , air conditioners and computers in China over a 16-year period . To avoid a vicious cycle of pollution , resulting from both the manufacture and disposal of appliances , Greenpeace has lobbied for manufacturers to use fewer toxic chemicals in their products . The organization also has a message for consumers who seem to swap their phones , tablets and other computer devices with increasing frequency . `` Think about where your mobile phone or where your gadgets go , '' said Ma , the Greenpeace activist . `` When you think about changing [ your phone ] , or buying a new product , always think about the footprint that you put on this planet . ''
U.N. report : `` China now appears to be the largest e-waste dumping site in the world '' a place where discarded electronics are dumped and burned. The small town of Guiyu as been a major hub for the disposal of e-waste . ` ` When recycling is done in primitive ways ... it is hugely devastating for the local environment ''