NYT photos reveal the horror of e-waste in Africa

Aug 27, 2010

The gallery, available here, shows the devastating environmental and human toll of the continued export of e-waste to poor and developing nations.

Children as young as 11 can be seen dismantling and burning old electronics to retrieve valuable components, while the landscape has become a graveyard of abandoned junk.

Despite being banned in many countries, the exportation of e-waste to developing countries continues to be a problem.

The BBC reports that the e-waste trade is “flourishing” in Europe despite bans, with only around a third of waste actually being treated in compliance with the law.

The Basel Action Network (BAN) also recently accused the US Government of “missing the mark” on e-waste laws, after continued issues with it signing up to the full Basel Convention, which would ban all e-waste export to developing nations.

Remanufacturers work to reduce e-waste by reusing printer cartridges rather than sending them to landfill.

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