E-Waste Hell: A Mountain of E-Waste Dumped in Agblogbloshie, Accra, Ghana
Geschreven op 30-8-2015 - Erik van Erne. Geplaatst in Niet gecategoriseerd
How are the west’s recycled TVs and computers ending up in a toxic dump in Ghana? Dateline investigates the trade in e-waste which is poisoning a once picturesque part of Africa.
Giovana Vitola has found a mountain of old electronic equipment dumped in what were previously picturesque wetlands in Ghana in West Africa.
The e-waste is poisoning everything around it, including the scavenging children burning the wires to try and get at the valuable metal inside. Meanwhile, acrid smoke drifts across the Agbogbloshie area of the capital Accra, and even the city’s main food market. Stamped across the equipment, the names of companies and government bodies in countries like Australia, Britain and the United States, with many hard drives still intact and containing potentially confidential information.
Exporting hazardous waste to developing countries is strictly regulated, so how is some of it ending up in Ghana illegally? Do the companies disposing of it even know what’s happening? And what do the Australian authorities plan to do about it? Look at E-Waste Hell.
See also: The World of Electronic Waste: Dangerous, Hazardous and Illegal – The World of E-Waste: Ghana Digital Dumping Ground– The E-Waste Republic: A Web Documentary by Jacopo Ottaviani – E-Waste Hell: A Mountain of E-Waste Dumped in Agblogbloshie, Accra, Ghana
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7 februari 2019 om 14:18 | Permalink
ToxiCity: life at Agbobloshie, the world’s largest e-waste dump in Ghana
E-waste, the term given to discarded electronic appliances, is often shipped by developed nations to poorer countries such as Ghana. RTD visits the country’s most infamous dumping ground, Agbogbloshie. Locals call it “Sodom and Gomorrah” after the infamous Biblical sin cities. Its air and soil are polluted with toxic chemicals, while extreme poverty, child labour and criminal gangs are also rife.