Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Ghana - The E-Waste Republic

Here is a place I would not want to live:

Over 40 million tonnes of electric and electronic waste (also known as e-waste) are produced worldwide every year. That is boundless heaps of refrigerators, computers, television sets, ovens, telephones, air conditioning units, lamps, toasters and other electric and electronic devices, with a total weight equal to seven times that of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The greatest producers of e-waste per person are the United States and the European Union, while developing countries, such as China, are producing an ever-increasing amount. Only a small part of this waste – about 15.5% in 2014 – is recycled with methods that are efficient and environmentally safe.

The West African country of Ghana, currently undergoing intense economic growth, is an important centre for receiving, re-using, recovering and disposing of electronic waste. Accra, the capital, hosts a thriving second-hand market, a sprawling network of repair shops, and a range of activities which attempt to tap into the full potential of e-waste. And yet, it is also the location of an enormous and heavily polluted electronic waste dumpsite.

You can read the rest @
http://www.spiegel.de/international/tomorrow/electronic-waste-in-africa-recycling-methods-damage-health-and-the-environment-a-1086221.html

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. What a mess we are turning this planet into.

In case you forgot, one of the events where Hillary gave a paid speech was the Scrap Metal Recycling Expo (that's the event when a woman threw a shoe at her). Do you suppose Hillary urged them to stop poisoning the poorer people of the world? I doubt it.

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