E-waste: Burning old TVs - the toxic trade in electrical waste

People around the world are extracting valuable materials from e-waste despite huge health risks.

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The air at the vast dump, in the west of Ghana’s capital Accra, is highly toxic. The closer you get, the harder it is to breathe and your vision starts to blur.

Around these fumes are dozens of men, who wait for tractors to unload piles of cables before setting them on fire. Others climb up a toxic waste hill and bring down TVs, computers and washing machine parts and set them alight.

The men are extracting valuable metals like copper and gold from electrical and electronic waste - or e-waste – much of which has made its way to Ghana from rich countries.

“I don’t feel well,” says young worker Abdulla Yakubu, whose eyes are red and watery as he burns cables and plastic.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gvq1rd0geo

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