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Ghana: Home for Some, E-Waste Dump for the World
Source: allAfrica, Date: , 2014
The e-waste dump Agbogbloshie
exemplifies the downside of globalization: It's the bitter end of a supply
chain where children, instead of going to school, wander barefoot gathering
bits of salvaged metal for pennies.
Black, poisonous smoke darkens the sky above
Agbogbloshie, the final destination for electronic waste shipped from all over
the globe. Some 50,000 people, including many children, live here - at one of
the world's largest e-waste dumping grounds.
Literally tons of old electronics burn
in countless open fires, making my skin burn and itch as I walk through the
grounds. There's a metallic taste in my mouth, and my head throbs. Meter-high,
dazzling, green flames release huge wafts of black, poisonous fumes. It's like
an apocalyptic painting come to life.
People burn the cables and circuit
boards to get the poor man's gold within: copper, aluminium, lead - valued raw
materials for industry.
Sacrificing their health
Badugu is 25 years old. He can't say
how long he's been getting copper coils and metal plates out of old radios. He
only knows that he has no choice - this is his livelihood."I want money,
that's why I come do this work," he says. "Today is very bad,"
he added. He describes himself as having a "problem inside" due to
all the toxic smoke.
Next to Badugu, several children are
busy breaking apart old televisions. Some kids drag speaker magnets strung on
cords behind them, wandering the grounds for hours so bits of metal stick to
the magnets. They then sell their catch - bits of circuit board, screws,
aluminium, copper - to metal traders next door. Their income amounts to just a
few euro cents.
Wearing plastic sandals and a torn
T-shirt, Peter stands on a mountain of glass shards, old freezers, copy
machines and car batteries; at his feet, pink ink from printer cartridges coat
the black ground. He shows me his arms and legs, which are covered in cuts from
broken glass and sharp slivers of metal."I'm sick in my head," he
says, describing his constant headaches. Many children here have breathing
problems, and cough up blood. Some, Peter says, also have problems with their
eyes. His siblings work here as well. Peter's mother sells sweets on the
street. He doesn't know where his father is."I want to get money, take my
money and go to school. That's why I am here," Peter says forcefully.
E-waste
from Europe
The grounds are full of heavy metals
from televisions and computers. Toxic brominated flame retardants, which
inhibit the ignition of combustible organic materials, are all around.
To read more- http://allafrica.com/stories/201401071134.html?page=2
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