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On a tip-off from a disillusioned council employee, Sky News, the Independent and Greenpeace set about finding exactly where disposed TVs were going when being left at the dump.  What they found was that some recycling companies are using an export loop-hole that allows electronic equipment to be shipped anywhere in the world as long as it is described as "second-hand goods".

The researchers took an old TV, made sure it didn't work and then planted a number of tracking devices inside its case.  They then took it to a recycling centre run by Hampshire County Council to be recycled.  They followed the TV's journey from the tip to BJ Electronics' depot and then to a container headed for the Tilbury Docks in London.  After a number of weeks, it was tracked again to Lagos, Nigeria, where it was offloaded and sent to a local market.

Using tracking devices the researchers managed to find the TV again, which they promptly bought from a market trader.

Thousands of old electronic goods and components leave the EU for Africa and other destinations in the developing world every day, despite regulations prohibiting the trade in e-waste. Some will be repaired and reused, but many are beyond repair, meaning that they will eventually be dumped in places where no facilities exist for safe recycling.

Nigeria, like Ghana, Pakistan, India and China, is just one of many destinations that Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other developed countries are using as toxic e-waste dumping grounds.

The poorest people, in many cases children, are put to work breaking apart TVs, mobile phones, game consoles and other electronic items that arrive in their tonnes. With no safety measures, they are exposed to highly toxic chemicals, including mercury, which damages the brain; lead, which can damage reproductive systems; and cadmium, which causes kidney damage.

Greenpeace, in particular, has been campaigning for these loop-holes to be closed and for the companies that made the products in the first place to "take full responsibility for the safe recycling of their products".

The current WEEE regulations only stipulate that electronic suppliers (mostly retailers) should take back your old TV, for example, when you buy a new TV from them.  If they can't take it back, they should be signed up to contribute to an electronic recycling scheme, but clearly some recycling centres are turning a blind-eye to inappropriate "recycling".

Hampshire County Council has launched an investigation and issued a statement, saying:
"We are extremely disappointed to learn of the potential findings of the investigation by Sky News. Our primary aim has always been to ensure that waste electrical items are reused wherever possible, and that only functional TVs and monitors are sent abroad. We do not condone the exportation of televisions that cannot be reused.

"The contractor operating our household waste recycling centres uses approved sub-contractors who collect televisions from a range of recycling centres and those that are assessed as functional are exported to Africa for reuse.

"We have been and continue to work with the Environment Agency (EA) to ensure that the companies' working practices are fully compliant with current legislation and EA guidelines. We have been liaising with the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) to ensure that the companies have been operating to the required standards.

"We have already expressed our thanks to Sky News for bringing their investigation to our attention. If they provide a copy of their evidence and footage we will investigate the matter fully and without delay, and we will share the footage and evidence received with the regulatory authorities.

"If, after our inquiry, it is found that our clear requirements are being compromised by inadequate controls as the reporter alleges, we will take immediate action and we will publish our findings."