Start Wearing Green

findout:

From the series Rubish Dump 2.0, smoke from burning e-waste.

The suburb of Agbogbloshie in Ghana’s capital Accra, has in recent years become a dumping ground for computers and electronic waste fro Europe and the US.  Hundreds of tons of e-waste end up here every month as countries in the West attempt to unload their ever increasing stopiles of toxic junk.  Of the 20 to 50 million tons of electronics discarded each year 70% will end up in poor nations, and in the EU alone 6.6 million tons of e-waste are unaccounted for every year.

Andrew McConnell, photographer

This makes me think of a recent article in PCWorld - 5 Reasons Why You Don’t Need an E-Reader. Relevant part quoted below:

4. E-books Are Not More Eco-friendly Than Paper Books

A recent Cleantech report says that a traditional book has less of an impact on the environment than an e-reader. As long as the owner of a Kindle reads at least 23 books, he or she is out of the red for CO2 emissions.

However, electronic components require mining of nonrenewable minerals, often in unstable countries, and then there’s the question of electronics waste. E-waste is often sent to developing countries where hazardous materials are often broken up by hand and incinerated, releasing toxins into the air. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control reported that e-waste, including laptops, LCD monitors, and plasma TVs were shown to exceed safe limits in copper, mercury and lead. A greener bet? Use your local library.

(via wearetheearth)