E-waste is killing people in Africa!

[AlTech]

@LinusTech @Slick

 

 

 

 

Consumers have a nasty habit of throwing out their electronics as soon as newer, shinier models become available, and they rarely ever do so properly. Nearly 42 million tons of e-waste — everything from microwaves and electric shavers to washing machines, laptops, cellphones, TVs and computer monitors — entered the global garbage stream in 2014, according to a United Nations University report.

Like all trash, this stuff doesn’t just disappear. Instead, it stacks up in landfills. Unlike most trash, however, e-waste is often packed with valuable components — as well as toxic chemicals and materials that can cause real damage wherever they end up.

 

Ghana offers us a glimpse at some of the economic and environmental consequences of e-waste. In the West African nation’s capital of Accra, particularly the slum known as Agbogbloshie, large landfills are strewn with decades’ worth of discarded electronics. It’s one of the most concentrated e-waste sites in the world.

Enterprising locals have created a booming second-hand market around the (questionably legal) influx of old printers, TVs, computers and whatnot. Upon landing on Ghana’s shores, these devices enter into a vibrant network of repairmen, resellers and middlemen who pass them on to locals, who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford such products.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, not all of that waste gets properly processed or recycled, and many harmful substances get unleashed — lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and chlorofluorocarbons, to name a few. Those who work to extract the valuable constituents, many of them children, get exposed to the harmful materials. Those not directly handling the hazardous e-waste still get exposed to it, most obviously by the common practice of burning things like wires and circuitboards to extract copper.

 

Without proper protection and processing methods, the marginal economic benefit of reselling precious metals or refurbished electronics comes with a major risk of contamination. There isserious concern about the lead levels that might be accumulating in residents’ blood, along with traces of iron and antimony from contaminated fish. High levels of PCBs have been detected in the breast milk of area women, while dangerous levels of aluminum, copper, iron, lead and zinchave been measured in the air and soil

 

 Opinion - WTF! OMFG! Holy shit! Ahhhh! This is so bad. SO so bad. What the hell happened to making sure we live in safety? For fucks sake! This is bullshit!

[Kherm]

Well done with them quotations.

[thekeemo]

Which is why you should sell used stuff or give it away instead of throwing it away

[ShiftHitTheFan]

Nothing new. I have known this forever. Until we have robots that can do complicated tasks like taking apart circuit boards, cheap labor will prevail.

[The Official Czex]

I'm moving to Africa... Free PC parts! 

[AlTech]

I'm moving to Africa... Free PC parts! 

You might get mercury in your blood and lead poisoning so RIP!

Edited December 13, 2015 by Godlygamer23

[SurvivorNVL]

Only one way to solve this problem.  We have to nuke them.  Wait...

[Chrysolite]

You might get mercury in your blood and lead poisoning so RIP!

 

Well, that's true, but I don't actually live in Africa. That is weird news tho. How did all that end up there, when we could use that stuff to fold? Something's fishy here. And I don't like it.

Edited December 13, 2015 by Godlygamer23

[Me1z]

*insert quote about capitalism, consumer culture, and the global economy* 

 

This is nothing new. If millions of people want to live an unsustainable lifestyle then eventually people further down the chain are going to get screwed. I try my best not to be part of the problem, but the fact of the matter is that most people just don't give a shit. They don't. Our society is chock full of selfish pricks who don't care what happens to the next guy as long as they don't have to deal with the problem themselves.

[babadoctor]

You know what else is killing people in africa?

[The_Stig]

http://bit.ly/IqT6zt

 

This is also killing people in Africa.

Careful, you might cut yourself on that edge

 

You make an excellent point! .A lot of white people with money will still buy things the way they do even though they know this is happening.

Being careless, selfish pricks has nothing to do with your race. I could say that they people burning the tech equipment are selfish too, as they just want the copper to sell.

[SilicateWielder]

Soooo, why dont they let countries just take that E-waste? Why dont we go over there and offer to take it off their hands? I mean we can use the valuable materials in those devices. 

[The_Stig]

Soooo, why dont they let countries just take that E-waste? Why dont we go over there and offer to take it off their hands? I mean we can use the valuable materials in those devices. 

They're using the valuable materials, its just that to harvest them, there being burned and the burning releases all of the harmful toxins. 

[Dabombinable]

I've actually still got every single piece of my computers. Well that parts that didn't die on me anyway.

[Swndlr]

I'm moving to Africa... Free PC parts! 

Id wait my years out in a hut until I find it....

That one PC

THAT ONE PC

With a 980 inside

And then

Hook it up 

BOOM

No electricity

[AlTech]

Damn. We live in a messed up world.

[Albatross]

I don't throw old electronics away. I either give them away, sell them or keep them. If I have to throw them away, I bring them to a scrap yard that pays pretty nicely for them, even if they are dinosaur parts.
 

You know what else is killing people in africa?

 
I feel cheated. You didn't include the answer.

[babadoctor]

I don't throw old electronics away. I either give them away, sell them or keep them. If I have to throw them away, I bring them to a scrap yard that pays pretty nicely for them, even if they are dinosaur parts.

 

 

I feel cheated. You didn't include the answer.

I rather not say

[The Official Czex]

Id wait my years out in a hut until I find it....

That one PC

THAT ONE PC

With a 980 inside

And then

Hook it up 

BOOM

No electricity

 

Well, I mean, you'd be dead by the time you found one because life expectancy and stuff... The lack of fresh water might also be bad for you, but I don't know; I'm not African.

[MrRavens]

Ya I remember learning about this in highschool. On top of things like coltan, which they mine with horrible regulations and die because of such. So it sucks both ways. They have horrible conditions when mining for stuff. But when the stuff that was made from what they minded comes back to them they have e-waste and die from that as well. Really sucks.

Also if I remember e-waste is an issue in India as well.

[BuckGup]

They should build a server farm and bitcoin mine or rent them

[zacRupnow]

Linus and Slick look at the news section, no need to tag them for a news topic unless it really is immediately important to them.

[Toddwjp]

i wish more people took the time to recycle, and more governments spent money on making it easier to recycle weird goods

[SSL]

You're just now hearing about this?

 

Watch everybody continue to do nothing.

[Prysin]

this is nothing new.... known this for years now.

Ghana is by far not the only country down there where this is an issue