Waste colonialism: Africa pays the price for global e-waste

e waste

A pile of electronic waste. Africa is becoming a hotspot for hazardous e-waste, putting thousands, including children, at serious health risk.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

In Accra’s sprawling Agbogbloshie dumpsite, young men smash discarded computers with metal rods while others burn cables, sending thick plumes of toxic smoke into the sky.

Thousands of kilometres away, in Nairobi’s Korogocho, waste pickers sift through discarded electronics, lighting small fires to strip copper from tangled wires.