Breaking Electrical Components

Workers break obsolete electrical components and wiring to reclaim metals such as copper and aluminium.

Unique identifier: GP03QZQ

Type: Video

Shoot date: 12/04/2008

Locations: Accra, Africa, Ghana

Credit line: © Greenpeace

Duration: 2m6s

Audio format: Natural

File size 189MB

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)

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Toxics E-Waste Documentation in Ghana

Greenpeace visits Ghana to investigate workplace contamination from e-waste recycling and disposal in the country and uncovers evidence that e-waste is being exported, often illegally, to Ghana from Europe and the US.
The majority of second-hand electrical goods that are exported to Ghana from developed countries are beyond repair and are either dumped or "recycled" in a crude fashion.
In the yards, unprotected workers, many of them children, dismantle computers and TVs with little more then stones in search of metals that can be sold. The remaining plastic, cables and casing is either burnt or simply dumped.
Some of the samples tested by Greenpeace contained toxic metals including lead in quantities as much as one hundred times above background levels. Other chemicals such as phthalates, some of which are known to interfere with sexual reproduction, were found in most of the samples tested. One sample also contained a high level of chlorinated dioxins, known to promote cancer.

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