What about travelling to China, for example?

[tudoremilianmarius]

Hi. Just wondering.
What if we were to travel in one of those e waste cities from the documentaries? Fill a container, ship it, process it.
How bad of an idea does this sound?

 

[jarlowski1]

I don't think the government of such countries would allow a non citizen or "tourist" permission to do something like that. In some countries it maybe considered illegal and to the extreme you could be jailed or worse. One would have to speak to the government officials of the country one wants to do this in.

 

[tudoremilianmarius]

I agree with that. I've seen a video of a journalist getting in trouble with the local authorities/local gangsters in that Chinese e waste city. But then again, he wasn't there for business purposes. He was investigating.
Let's assume you would eventually find your way around, financially speaking, it would make sense.
A container full of computers and motherboards should have a considerable value.
And it's not just in China. It's India, Africa. Lots of places with tons of e waste.
I'm wondering if it would it be legal to import such thing to Europe.

 

[timsiggins]

This seem counter productive don't we export all the e-waste to china and India, why are not processing the valuable stuff here and sending the rest

 

[Justincase]

The reason some parts of the world attracts such toxic and laborious work is because the local economy is so poor that they are willing to sacrifice the health of their own children for a day's food.
They live in such poverty that they have no choice, eat today and worry about next year if you live that long.
I would travel to help them clean up their act.
But going there to diminish an already poor economy by earning money would be futile and immoral.

 

[Nidhoggon]

Traveling to China can definitely offer unique opportunities and experiences. If you’re considering it, think about how you might handle logistics and the local business environment. For example, it's crucial to research local regulations and practices related to gold refining. There's a lot of valuable information out there about the process and what you might expect. You might find it helpful to check out detailed resources and guides that can offer practical tips and insights. If you’re interested in exploring this further, you can learn more through various online resources that dive into these specifics and give you a better picture of what to expect.

 

[mr.data]

Hi. Just wondering.
What if we were to travel in one of those e waste cities from the documentaries? Fill a container, ship it, process it.
How bad of an idea does this sound?

That is actually not a bad idea for the purpose of our environment.
I looked into that a couple of years ago and wanted to see if it was possible to buy a landfill somehwere but this is not that straight forward.
Landfills are those dirty secrets from governments that they rather cover up then attack the problem itself.

For your plan, I think you will be better off if you travel to these poor countries and show them how they can do it in a more healthy way then they do it right now.
If you want to come there and load a truck full then you are basically stealing there bread. Or you have to offer them enough money for the truckload but we ship it there because there labor hour price is so low that we cannot extract the metals ourselves because it's not profitable

 

[Darkthirty]

I did some work for a company that outsources their gray iron castings to China. Asked how it could be feasible considering shipping costs. The answer was China has no EPA, OSHA, or labor unions. Considering all the red tape to do anything in the US the answer was obvious.

 

[Shark]

I did some work for a company that outsources their gray iron castings to China. Asked how it could be feasible considering shipping costs. The answer was China has no EPA, OSHA, or labor unions. Considering all the red tape to do anything in the US the answer was obvious.

Same basic answer as I got several years ago. The company I worked for was closing up all American manufacturers and moving them to Central America. The cost of the move was staggeringly high and I ask about it. Labor there was averaging 25 cents per hour at the time and our company offered starting pay at 50 cents and hour. No benefits, no health insurance, no OSHA, no labor boards, and so on. When I ask about all of that eventually catching up to US standards the reply was, we already have property in several South Eastern Asian countries that can't afford that stuff. They were already so far ahead in that plan they already had the building blueprints laid out for the next location and alternate plans just in case.

 

[Millman972g]

I live in a small town and everyone I've asked has acted as though I was trying to steal from them. I told them to give me a price and I would pay for their e-waste and they were like nope we send it out to a shredding company. I explained what I was doing with it and they still didnt get it. So I'm kind of stuck trying to find little bits here and there to refine. So I'm kind of stuck.

 

[Shark]

I live in a small town and everyone I've asked has acted as though I was trying to steal from them. I told them to give me a price and I would pay for their e-waste and they were like nope we send it out to a shredding company. I explained what I was doing with it and they still didnt get it. So I'm kind of stuck trying to find little bits here and there to refine. So I'm kind of stuck.

I had the same issues early on, but I was working for a finance company cleaning up foreclosed homes and picked up a fair bit of stuff from work. Luckily I had been doing business with a local computer shop off and on as a customer at times and as part time help at times. This opened a few more doors for me as well. A local gold buyer had lost his buyer and when finding a new one that didn't take gold filled, so he offered it to me, at a steep discount. From there it almost got out of hand for me. To the point that eWaste became a side thing and I only processed the easy stuff. It isn't easy, but it can be done. There are several on the forum that started from scratch and went way beyond what I did. I still enjoy working with gold, even silver at times. The opportunity is there, we each just have to search for it in our own ways AND be able to recognize it when it comes along.

 

[RichardSukhoi]

I did some work for a company that outsources their gray iron castings to China. Asked how it could be feasible considering shipping costs. The answer was China has no EPA, OSHA, or labor unions. Considering all the red tape to do anything in the US the answer was obvious.

About 90 minutes away is a quarry where for the last 150 years or so they extract a particular granite and multi ton cubes were cut with abrasive wire saws into countertops and tiles. They outsourced the cutting to China. They can only do tiles as the counter tops don’t survive shipping.

 

[4metals]

The opportunity is there, we each just have to search for it in our own ways AND be able to recognize it when it comes along.

This little sentence is a gem. Pay attention and be open minded.

 

[Millman972g]

I do recognize oppurtunities but Ilive in a rural area of Wyoming where things like e-waste is pretty hard to come by. Funy story...I asked our local hospital what they did with their waste an you'd think I was asking for drugs or something. The lady I talked got all pissed off I was even asking. I just laughed at the woman who was in charge of that stuff. I explained what I was doing and how much better for the environment it was, but she just ripped into me. Lol.