FACTS AND FIGURES. Nearly 80% of United State s e-waste is exported to developing countries, China and India being the principal destinations.

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1 FACTS AND FIGURES Undoubtedly, e-waste generation and its amazing growth rate impart data and statistics that had to be analyzed by people across the entire World. Even the figure of 50 million tons of generated electronic waste (Waste of Electric and Electronic Equipment WEEE) is amazing; estimates have revealed that this amount will double in the next decades. Data of Interest In order to have a better idea of the existing amount of electronic equipment disposed of on a worldwide level, the following is a series of data and statistics providing more in-depth information. E-waste E-waste generation is growing three times faster than any other type of municipal waste on a global level. Each year citizens from the majority of industrialized countries produce approximately 20 Kg. of electronic waste. Nearly 80% of United State s e-waste is exported to developing countries, China and India being the principal destinations. Even though 72% of the materials from electronic components can be recycled, 25% can be recovered, and just 3% would be wasted, e-waste recycling policies are still very outdated even in industrialized countries. A clear example is the United States, whose e-waste recycling rate reaches 12.5% in comparison to 32% for other types of waste. It s estimated that there is an average amount of 3 old or obsolete electronic devices stored in a household. More than 75% of useless computers remain stored in our closets, garages, depots and warehouses. 22% of all the mercury consumed on a worldwide level is used in the manufacturing of electronic equipment. Lead contained in electronic waste represents 40% of all the lead existing in landfills. A metric ton of computer e-waste contains more gold than that recovered from 17 gross tons in the ore extraction process. For example, in 1998 gold recovered from e-waste in the US was equivalent to that recovered from 2 million metric tons of mining extraction.

2 E-waste Type Others 30% TVs 10% Monitors 10% Refrigerators 20% ICT Equipment 15% Electronics 15% E-waste Composition Refractory oxides 30% Copper 20% Plastics 31% Others 1% Al 2% Lead 2% Nickel 2% Tin 4% Iron 8% Source: Basel Action Network Computers In the US 14 to 20 million PC s are disposed of every year, a figure that has a 3-5% yearly growth; in China 4 millions PC s are discarded every year and in developing countries, e-waste generation will triple by It is predicted that 14 million computers, 39 million mobile phones and 18 million TV s will end up in India by the end of The most populated countries have an amazing computer usage growth rate: in China this growth rate was 1052% and in India 604% from 1993 to 2000, while the average world growth rate was just at 181% for the same time period. It s calculated that for every computer that reaches the market, another becomes obsolete.

3 Accumulated waste in the United Status from 1997 to 2004 generated 550 million Kg. of lead, 900,000 Kg. of cadmium, 180,000 Kg. of mercury, 500,000 Kg. of chromium VI, million Kg. of plastic and 159 million Kg. of brominated flame-retardant. Manufacturing an average computer and 17 monitor requires 240 Kg. of fossil fuels, 22 Kg. of chemicals, and 1,500 Kg. of water. The following table shows the quantity of sold computers on a worldwide level in 2006, according to the most representative manufacturers. Company Sales 2006 Market Sales 2005 Market (Th.) Share % (Th.) Share % Dell Inc , ,8 3,5 HP , ,6 19,2 Lenovo , ,9 10,9 Hacer , ,6 37,1 Toshiba , ,3 27,3 Otros , ,8 5,1 TOTAL ,5 Source: Obtained from Computer TakeBack Campaign, with data from Gartner Dataquest (2007) Cellular Phones In 2006 mobile phone sales in the World grew 22.5% from the previous year, reaching a quantity of more than 1,000 million mobile phones. According to a study made by Computer TakeBack Campaign, the number of mobile phone users will exceed 2,000 million by It is estimated that in the US alone, more than 1,000 million mobile phones will be sold in 2009 and there will be 2,600 million cell phone users by the end of the same year. Australia s population replaces its mobile phones approximately every 18 months, which means 16 million mobile phones are discarded or stored in households or offices. More than 90% of mobile phone materials like Nickel, Cadmium, Cobalt, Gold, Silver, Copper, plastic and others, can be recovered. One ton of mobile phone circuit boards can provide the same amount of precious metals as that of 110 tons of gold ore, 123 tons of silver ore and 1 ton of copper sulfide.

4 TV s There are more than 45 million TV s sold in the world each year. Among the biggest buyers are Australia, with more than 2.5 million TV s and computers. The US, just for the Superbowl, bought more than 2.5 million TV s in TV s and Monitors contain cadmium, barium, mercury, zinc, vanadium, phosphorus toxic dust and from 2 to 4 pounds of lead. These components are toxic and many of them are carcinogenic to human beings. From 20 to 24 million TV s and computers are stored in houses and offices in the US. In Latin America and the Caribbean e-waste amounts do not yet reach the US or Europe levels, although they have experienced impressive growth rates in the last years, where big cities and high-population countries attain higher e- waste quantities. The following presents a table with the sales of computers from Latin America and the Caribbean countries with the greatest e-waste concentrations. Country Computer Sales (Thousands) Accumulated Sales (83-05) In Use PC Stock (2005) Latin America and the Caribbean Stock (%) Argentina ,6 Brazil ,9 Chile ,4 Colombia ,8 Mexico ,1 Venezuela ,2 ICT Penetration in different world regions In order to complement the information already presented and more clearly define the dimension that the e-waste problem is reaching, given the increased use of technologies that permit its application, the following presents a series of graphs that contextualize the situation of ICT and electronic equipment usage in different world regions and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

5 % Internet Penetration Year 2004 Africa 2,6 Asia - Pacific 8,6 World 13,3 Europe 31,2 Americas 28, % Source: International Telecommunication Union Technologic Penetration in the Americas and the Caribbean North America Central America South America The Caribbean Fixed Telephony Mobile Telephony Internet Source: International Telecommunication Union

6 Mobile Phone Users Average Annual Growth Africa 58,2 Asia 34,3 Europe World Americas Oceania 25,4 28,5 21,9 21, % Source: International Telecommunication Union Without question, the Information and Communication Technologies of mass usage are telephones, both fixed and mobile, and the Internet, through telephones and computers, which have had a significant increase since its implementation. Phone and Internet Subscribers Worldwide Source and Elaboration: International Telecommunication Union

7 ICT penetration rate in the developed world (divided by) ICT penetration in the developing world Fixed Mobile Internet Source: International Telecommunication Union Other Statistics Worldwide ICT users (millions) Description Fixed Telephony Mobile Telephony PCs Internet 4, Source: International Telecommunication Union Comparing the penetration rates in the American Continent, The United States and Canada have a greater penetration rate in comparison with other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Mobile Telephones: Doubled Fixed Telephones: Four times Internet: Six times The US has twice as many or more Internet users than the other 42 American countries put together.

8 A Comparison of the Digital Divide between Industrialized Countries vs. Developing Countries

9 Source and Elaboration: International Telecommunication Union ICT Expenses worldwide Source and Elaboration: World Bank

10 E-waste routes in Different World Countries Source and Elaboration: Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition

11 Description of ITC use in Latin America and the Caribbean by Country Hosts total Internet Hosts per 10'000 inhab. Users (000s) Users 100 inhab. Total (k) PCs Per 100 inhab Antigua & Barbuda 2' Argentina 926' ' ' Aruba 5' Bahamas Barbados Belize 3' Bermuda 11'395 1' Bolivia 8' Brazil 3'485' ' ' Canada 3'562'482 1' ' ' Chile 219' ' ' Colombia 192' ' ' Costa Rica 11' ' Cuba 1' Dominica Dominican Rep. 65' ' Ecuador 8' El Salvador 4' French Guiana Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala 23' ' Guyana Haiti Honduras 3' Jamaica 1' ' Martinique Mexico 1'523' ' ' Neth. Antilles Nicaragua 10' Panama 6' Paraguay 8' Peru 110' ' ' Puerto Rico St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad & Tobago 12' United States 195'138'696 6' ' ' Uruguay 108' Venezuela 38' ' ' Virgin Islands (US) 3' Americas 205'502'481 2' ' '

12 Main Telephone Lines Main telephone lines Main telephone lines per 100 inhabitants CAGR CAGR (000s) (%) (%) Antigua & Barbuda Argentina 7' ' Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda Bolivia Brazil 30' ' Canada 20' ' Chile 3' ' Colombia 7' ' Costa Rica ' Cuba Dominica Dominican Rep Ecuador 1' ' El Salvador French Guiana Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala ' Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Martinique Mexico 12' ' Neth. Antilles Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru 1' ' Puerto Rico 1' ' St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad & Tobago United States 192' ' Uruguay ' Venezuela 2' ' Virgin Islands (US) Americas 290' '

13 Cellular Telephone Subscribers Cellular mobile subscribers As % of total CAGR per 100 % Telephone (k) (%) inhabitants Digital subscribers Antigua & Barbuda Argentina 6' ' Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda Bolivia ' Brazil 23' ' Canada 8' ' Chile 3' ' Colombia 2' ' Costa Rica ' Cuba Dominica Dominican Rep ' Ecuador ' El Salvador ' French Guiana Grenada Guadeloupe Guatemala ' Guyana Haiti Honduras ' Jamaica ' Martinique Mexico 14' ' Neth. Antilles Nicaragua ' Panama ' Paraguay ' Peru 1' ' Puerto Rico ' St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad & Tobago United States 109' ' Uruguay ' Venezuela 5' ' Virgin Islands (US) Americas 181' '

14 Basic Indicators Population GDP Telephone Subscribers Total Density Total per capita Total per 100 (M) (per km2) (B US$) (US$) (000s) inhabitants Antigua & Barbuda ' Argentina '007 31' Aruba ' Bahamas ' Barbados ' Belize ' Bermuda ' ' Bolivia ' Brazil ' ' Canada '928 37' Chile '166 14' Colombia '152 29' Costa Rica '368 2' Cuba ' Dominica ' Dominican Rep '470 4' Ecuador '295 7' El Salvador '093 3' French Guiana ' Grenada ' Guadeloupe ' Guatemala '153 5' Guyana ' Haiti Honduras '077 1' Jamaica '302 3' Martinique ' Mexico '507 66' Neth. Antilles ' Nicaragua ' Panama '477 2' Paraguay '018 2' Peru '513 7' Puerto Rico ' St. Kitts and Nevis ' St. Lucia ' St. Vincent and the Grenadines ' Suriname ' Trinidad & Tobago '729 1' United States ' ' ' Uruguay '078 2' Venezuela '164 16' Virgin Islands (US) ' Americas ' ' '