The Who, What, Where, When Why of E-Waste.
The “What?” is clearly electronics. We hear often about how we should make the effort to recycle our old electronics correctly. How we should be using proper authorized centers that are certified to handle E-waste. But how many of us ask why? Who does it impact, and how? How many have seen the deep up close effects electronics have?
Where? Most of the issues with old electronics come down to Africa and Asia. Ghana. West Africa and South east China. Specifically Ghana, Africa and Guiyu, China.
Why? It’s not that developing countries want to use outdated electronics because they’re cheaper than getting the newest version of a device. It’s not that they want to resell them on the secondary market. It’s their parts. To be exact, the small amount of minerals that coat the wires such as gold, copper and silver. The problem is, in order to get that small amount of copper or silver, the entire device has to be stripped down and the wires are burned creating a toxic smoke. The remaining parts are just tossed out into the land and are worthless.
Who? Everyone that lives nearby is effected by the toxic air from the burning, and the poisoned water of the nearby rivers that travel throughout. This includes livestock that feed and drink in the area.
When? Destroying old electronics for their copper and gold occurs 24/7. As long as these countries can source them from other countries, people will continue to do so for every penny they can make.
It’s a lot of littering, burning, and waste just to get to something so small within. Millions of these left over worthless parts litter the lands of China and Africa, and leak dangerous chemicals and residues into the mother Earth. The insane effects can be seen vividly in this picture below of Ghana, Africa.
It is remarkable to see how close this is going on to a river and villages in the background. That’s the same river the rely on for water and bathing.
amandla
2087
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