"ian field" wrote in
:

One thing I have been trying to find out if anyone knows, is how much
lead the petroleum industry procured annually for TEL additives before
leaded petrol was discontinued, the figures I read somewhere (can't
remember where, or how much!) were huge - thousands of tons of lead
converted into exhaust particulates to be inhaled, washed onto
agricultural land and into the water table, I suspect that lead in
solder is insignificant compared to previous usage of TEL!

Yes, but the lead coming out of tailpipes was widely distributed in the
air, whereas electronics that wind up in landfill dumps just sit there
for a long time and continuously leach their chemicals into the nearby
ground, whence it flows down into water tables and gets into drinking
water. I'd prefer my drinking water lead-free, thank you.