Some of them end up in a place like Agbogbloshie, a vast, poisonous dump in Ghana. A former wetland turned slum, the kilometer-long stretch of land is a toxic graveyard of computers, refrigerators and other trash. German photographer Kevin McElvaney documents the young people who pick through the piles, risking their lives in exchange for the meager sums they earn harvesting copper and other valuables.
Located in the city of Accra, Agbogbloshie is known by locals as Sodom and Gomorrah for its hellish conditions and blackened ground that resembles an open sore. The scavengers, typically between 7 and 25, sift through the refuse, setting fire to piles of rubbish to remove the rubber and plastic concealing the more valuable materials within...
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Despite the growing awareness of sites like Agbogbloshie, e-waste doesn’t seem to be slowing. According to United Nations University, the world discarded some 46 million tons of electronic gadgetry last year. Less than one-sixth was properly recycled or reused. It’s only going to get worse. Global e-waste is expected to 55.1 million tons in 2018.
China and the United States produce the most waste—32 percent of the global total last year—and some of that stuff is landing in Agbogbloshie. Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, a watchdog group that monitors e-waste, says he saw computers stamped with American government logos when he visited the site in 2012. Some probably were re-used but others were discarded.
