In Ghana and across the world, insulated wire is highly sought by recyclers big and small, who covet the metal but not the insulation. They contain everything from harness wires used in automobiles to USB cables. Later, workers will gather up the steel left behind.Įlsewhere, around 40 men, most in their teens and early 20s, tend five- and ten-pound bundles of burning insulated copper wire. And phones, laptops and old TVs aren’t the only things that can be dangerous when recycled improperly.Īt Agbogbloshie, burning takes place at the edge of the site, and most of what’s burned is automobile tires, which are lined up for hundreds of feet and left to smolder, producing dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and other hazardous substances. E-waste, defined as old consumer electronics, is actually a very small part of the overall waste stream in these lanes, filled with the clanking of hammers on metal. Inside, owners, their families and employees manually dismantle everything from automobiles to microwave ovens. Most of the site is threaded by muddy lanes that cross in front of dozens of small sheds holding recycling businesses. The solution must come from West Africa itself and the people who depend upon e-waste to make a living.Īt Agbogbloshie, the fastest, cheapest, and favored way to recycle copper from insulated wire is to burn it.Īgbogbloshie is not a pleasant place to work. In other words, ending the export of used electronics from the wealthy developed world won’t end the burning in Agbogbloshie. There’s just one problem: The story is not that simple.Īccording to the United Nations Environment Programme, 85 percent of the e-waste dumped in Ghana and other parts of West Africa is produced in Ghana and West Africa. It’s a concise narrative that resonates strongly in a technology-obsessed world. The toxic smoke swirls around them and over Agbogbloshie, the roughly 20-acre scrap yard in the heart of Accra, Ghana, where these men live and work.ĭuring the last decade, some of the world’s most respected media organizations have transformed Agbogbloshie into a symbol of what’s believed to be a growing crisis: the export-or dumping-of electronic waste from rich, developed countries into Africa. They are some of the most iconic photos in environmental journalism: young African men, often shirtless, standing over small fires fueled by digital detritus imported from richer countries.
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