Sustainablog: As we've seen in many cases, what happens to your old computer, or used cell phone, or other electronics you hand over to a recycler is just what you expect: it gets torn down for useful parts and components, or refurbished into a new version of the same product. But, unfortunately, there's still about a quarter of American electronic waste that gets shipped overseas, where very poor people pick through it – without any kind of safety equipment, protective clothing, and the like – for materials that they can sell in exchange for the most basic needs. The documentary film TERRA BLIGHT walks its viewers through this whole lifecycle, and counterposes US consumption of electronics with "recycling" of the remnants in places like Ghana.
While some places in the developing world are building proper facilities for disassembling electronics and removing valuable elements safely, Agbogbloshie, an e-waste dump near Accra, Ghana, is still an example of what's often found in the world's poorest places. Adults and children smash monitors and computer cases with rocks to expose wires; in doing so, they often release lead and mercury into the air. If these workers don't breathe these toxins in, they work their way into the soil, and eventually the water, of the area where the disassembly occurs. Other developed countries ban this export of these toxic materials to the developing world, but not the United States.
Please read full and follow at: What Really Happens to that Old Computer You've "Recycled?"
