Credit: Choo Yut Shing/Flickr

In Vietnam's bustling e-waste market, informal recyclers play a vital role

The informal recycling market in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City showcases how e-waste is managed, with workers salvaging what they can to mitigate environmental harm.

Aniruddha Ghosal and Jae C. Hong report for the Associated Press.

In short:

E-waste is filling up landfills at an alarming rate, with Asian countries generating almost half of the 62 million metric tons produced globally in 2022.
Despite rising e-waste, proper recycling systems are scarce, leaving informal workers to collect waste, exposing them to health hazards.
Collaboration between informal and formal sectors is seen as a potential solution to improve efficiency and safety in e-waste management.

Key quote:

“We are currently generating e-waste at an unprecedented rate.”

— Garam Bel, e-waste officer at the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union

Why this matters:

Managing e-waste is crucial for public health and environmental safety, and integrating informal recyclers into the formal sector could help optimize resource recovery while protecting workers from hazardous conditions. Read more: Electronic waste from just this year will outweigh the Great Wall of China.

apnews.com

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.

In Vietnam's bustling e-waste market, informal recyclers play a vital role

Trump administration seeks to reframe climate change as beneficial

NASA cuts chief scientist role and other positions at headquarters

Fossil fuel priorities take center stage at major energy conference

E.P.A. to shut down environmental justice offices, leaving vulnerable communities exposed

House Republicans push to protect clean energy tax credits in budget fight

Colorado River funding freeze raises alarms over water security

Most cities fail to meet global air quality standards

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Op-ed: Why funding for the environmental justice movement must be anti-racist

We must prioritize minority-serving institutions, BIPOC-led organizations and researchers to lead environmental justice efforts.

Biden finalizes long-awaited hydrogen tax credits ahead of Trump presidency

Responses to the new rules have been mixed, and environmental advocates worry that Trump could undermine them.

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Prisons, jails and detention centers are placed in locations where environmental hazards such as toxic landfills, floods and extreme heat are the norm.

LISTEN: Reflections on the first five years of the Agents of Change program

The leadership team talks about what they’ve learned — and what lies ahead.

Study shows $1 billion in lost tax revenue in Houston area from industry tax breaks

Top polluters are benefiting the most from tax breaks.