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Have you ever
wondered where old computers end up?
The suburb of
Agbogbloshie in Ghana's capital, Accra, has in recent years bacome a
dumping ground for computers and electronic waste from Europe and the
US. Hundreds of tons of e-waste end up here every month as countries in
the West attempt to unload their ever increasing stockpiles of toxic
junk. Of the 20 to 50 million tons of electronics discarded each year
70% will end up in poor nations, and in the EU alone 6.6 million tins of
e-waste are unaccounted for every year.
Increasingly this
e-waste is finding it's way to West Africa and countries like Ghana,
Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Traders bypass international laws by labeling
the equipment as second-hand goods or charity donations, but, in reality
as much as 80% of the computers sent to Ghana are broken or obsolete.
Their final resting place is Agbogbloshie dump where they are broken
apart, mostly by children, to salvage the copper, hard drives and other
components that can be sold on.
The disposal of electronic goods
in the West is a costly affair and must be done in an environmentally
responsible manner, however in places like Ghana there are no such
regulations ans as such toxic metals like lead beryllium, causing untold
damage human health and the environment.
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