3. E-waste

Electronic waste or e-waste is becoming a huge problem around the world. Much of it used to end up in landfill.

The major problem with e-waste is that the toxic chemicals such as lead, arsenic and cadmium can leach into the soil over time and contaminate the drinking water.

As a result most countries in the developed world have introduced regulations to prevent e-waste being dumped into landfill. The majority of components in electronic goods now have to be recycled.

In order to get around this some countries have been sending their e-waste to places such as Asia where there aren't such strict regulations. We hear of e-waste mountains where children spend their days in hazardous conditions salvaging some of the precious metals from the discarded electronic goods to sell for cash.