About one month ago, I triumphantly brought my obsolete monitor to my local Best Buy where -- for a reasonable $15 fee -- I was assured that it would be recycled by a responsible reclamation materials company. That was good enough for me. I felt free...alive...and to tell you the truth, even a little eco-righteous since I took the extra step to keep my piece of e-junk out of the landfill. I'd be lying if I said that I couldn't list 5 better or at least 5 more exciting ways to spend that money, but after weighing the pros and cons, I really couldn't (in good conscience) ditch it in the alley when no one was looking. Too many of the people in my city already do that and I'm at the point in my life where I've got to do the right thing not just to hold my head up high but also to honor Mother Nature. On the other hand, who really knows what ends up happening to e-junk once we send it on its merry way?
After viewing a 60 Minutes expose revealing what really happens to our e-waste a year or so ago, I recall learning that well-intentioned consumers have been duped for years. CBS' investigative reporters actually tracked shipping containers packed to the gills with unwanted monitors and other assorted hunks of e-waste traveling from the US to their final destination, most frequently in the Far East and Africa. In one Asian city, they witnessed people (including women and children) scavenging through e-waste dumping zones in an effort to retrieve any potentially valuable materials that could be resold for cash (such as gold), ultimately securing them what Greenpeace estimated was the grand total of $8 each day. Sadly, these people were getting exposed to copious amounts of toxins on a consistent basis...there are likely new generations following the same path at this very moment. One thing that stood out in my mind is that Guiyu, China -- home to one of the most massive e-waste landfills on the globe -- is considered to have the highest volume of these cancer-causing elements. Imagine what's happening to people's bodies, let alone the environment.
And yet...we continue to buy our shiny new gadgets. They've got to go somewhere in the end, don't they? If you've ever wondered what happens on the other side when our unwanted electronic trash reaches its final burial ground, then you will undoubtedly be alternately troubled and enlightened by these photographs, courtesy of Andrew McConnell. If you really allow these images to sink in, they serve as proof positive that we can pay our tidy little fees for peace of mind but somehow on the other side of the globe, people are paying a far greater price for our reckless consumerism. At this point, I'm just going to let McConnell's photos and descriptions speak for themselves.
A keyboard lies in a polluted lagoon at Agbogbloshie dump in Accra, Ghana.
Computer monitors are broken apart to salvage metal and circuit boards at Agbogbloshie dump.
Children break apart CRT monitors to salvage metal from the inside and then sell what they recover to middlemen. They do not wear any protective clothing and end up exposing themselves to lethal doses of hazardous chemicals like mercury and lead.
Children push a cart loaded with scrap, including keyboards and other e-waste through Agbogbloshie dump.
A man crosses a severely polluted river in the suburb of Agbogbloshie -- when the rain comes, much of this waste will be washed into the sea.
Computer hard drivesare stacked high at an importer's warehouse in Accra, Ghana. The majority of them are not working and will end up being scrapped. Containers arriving in Ghana with computers are often labelled as "second hand goods" so as to bypass international laws, but in reality as much as 80% of the equipment is obsolete and broken.
A man examines a hard drive, the majority of which will be removed and sold for as little as $20, some containing information that can be used by criminals.
Children burn cables from computers and other electronic equipment in order to retrieve copper. Sadly, combustion releases toxic metals such as lead, beryllium, cadmium and mercury into the atmosphere.
Smoke from burning e-waste drifts along the edge of Agbogbloshie dump.
An old monitor casing lies in a polluted lagoon as smoke rises in the background due to burning e-waste.
A boy carries electrical cables to a burning site in order to retrieve copper.
Goats are herded around the dump while burning e-waste smoke rises in the distance. The open ground in the suburb of Accra used to be a place where engines were broken apart but in recent years, electronic equipment has become the waste of choice as Ghana rises to the top as one of the main dumping grounds for the western world's obsolete electrical junk.
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