The Digital Age was expected to usher in an era ofclean production, an alternative to smokestackindustries and their pollutants. But as environmentaljournalist Elizabeth Grossman reveals in this penetratinganalysis of high tech manufacture and disposal,digital may be sleek, but it’s anything butclean. Deep within every electronic device lie toxicmaterials that make up the bits and bytes, a complexthicket of lead, mercury, cadmium, plastics, and ahost of other often harmful ingredients.High Tech Trash is a wake-up call to the importance of the e-waste issueand the health hazards involved. Americans alone own more than twobillion pieces of high tech electronics and discard five to seven milliontons each year. As a result, electronic waste already makes up more thantwo-thirds of the heavy metals and 40 percent of the lead found in ourlandfills.
