Although consumer electronics such as the radio have been popular since the 1920s, recycling was almost unheard of until the early 1990s. At the end of the 1970s, the accelerating pace of domestic consumer electronics drastically shortened the lifespan of electronics such as TVs, VCRs and audio. New innovations appeared more quickly, making older equipment considered obsolete. Increased complexity and sophistication of manufacture made local repair more difficult. The retail market shifted gradually, but substantially, from a few high-value items that were cherished for years and repaired when necessary, to short-lived items that were rapidly replaced owing to wear or simply fashion, and discarded rather than repaired. This was particularly evident in computing, highlighted by Moore's Law. In 1988 two severe incidents highlighted the approaching e-waste crisis. The cargo barge Khian Sea, was loaded with more than 14,000 tons of toxic ash from Pennsylvania which had been refused acceptance in New Jersey and the Caribbean. After sailing for 16 months, all the waste was dumped as "topsoil fertiliser" in Haiti and in the Bay of Bengal by November 1988. In June 1988, a large illegal toxic waste dump which had been created by an Italian company was discovered. This led to the formation of the Basel Convention to stem the flow of poisonous substances from developed countries in 1989.