Making a living from toxic electronic waste in Ghana

In 2012 the planet generated about 49 million tonnes of electronic waste and by 2017 this is expected to rise to 65 million tonnes per year.


New EU laws which came into force on 14 February 2014 now force countries to recycle at least 45% of their e-waste and make it more difficult to export it illegally to the developing world.

But a significant amount of e-waste ends up in South East Asia and West Africa to be picked apart by workers, often children, in sometimes dangerous conditions.