Toxic disaster or golden opportunity? Almost all our old phones end up in this immense garbage dump in Ghana: ‘I earn really well’

A gigantic waste mountain in the center of Accra is the final resting place for electronic waste from all over the world, mostly shipped from the port of Rotterdam. About 250,000 tons of discarded telephones, washing machines, air fryers, computers, cars, cables and other electronics are processed here annually by Ghanaian boys and men, the so-called ‘burner boys’. Environmental organizations consistently label the location as ‘a disaster for public health and the environment’. But that’s not the full story.

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