Ever wonder where your old Mac ended up or whatever happened to your very first cell phone, after you tossed it for its newer, prettier, cooler twin? Well, apparently there is a good chance that a Ghanaian three year old is taking it apart for a couple of cedis. I knew China had
giant dumping grounds where toxic waste is slowly piling up and turning
rivers into black goo, but I had no idea this was also happening in
India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Ghana.
“Our waste in Africa”, a 25 minute Belgian reportage focusing on the e-waste issue in Accra, follows a container full of damaged TVs and computers on its journey from Antwerp to Ghana. The documentary starts on the docks of Antwerp (the journey begins!) where containers are being checked by four customs and environmental officers, suspecting the West Africa-bound content of being illegal toxic waste. Antwerp acts as a shipping port for many countries in Europe and sees about 8 millions containers leave its port every year (so 8 million containers, 4 environmental guys, you do the math). They try to check as many as possible but admit with a somewhat frustrated smile “hundreds [of illegal shipments] easily slip through”.
The fantastic voyage continues to sunny Ghana (cue in happy Caribbean sounding music) where the Belgian team tries to get suspicious containers checked by the local custom officers. After several failed attempts they managed to get one opened but get the clear impression that the whole operation is bogus, “a sham check, carried out because of political and journalistic pressure.” The local authorities don’t want any trouble. Although they have signed International treaties banning the import of e-waste, they decide when to apply them and are still free to determine what can be considered “re-usable goods” versus waste.
The documentary team travels to markets where old electronic goods are being sold and dumps, where they are being taken apart for scraps. And that is really the most heart-breaking part. The beginning of the documentary might make you feel like a powerless ant (and/or like you are watching a school video on cargo shipping), but seeing people dig through piles of Dell and Philips modems in a cloud of toxic smoke just makes you want to cry. It’s actually an exact replica of what the future world looks like in Terminator, with goats instead of cyborgs.
After watching the documentary I contacted an associate who had who served as the German ambassador in Benin and Zimbabwe, “West Africa is a place where lots of old stuff is being dumped. First and foremost motor cars, which arrive on huge cargo ships at various ports in Ghana, Togo and Benin. They are then shipped to the hinterland, right up to Burkina and Mali. It's big business for the local mafia as they buy the vehicles in Europe at scrapping prices.” The difference here, and what the reportage highlights is that unlike cars TVs, computers, and fridges contain toxic heavy metal powders and cancer-causing dioxins. The filmmakers interview a series of rubble-digging kids and second hand goods dealers throughout the documentary, in hopes to communicate the dangers of handling e-waste. But again their efforts seem futile: They speak a different language; the Ghanaian workers speak economy and the Belgians ecology.
The documentary ends on a beach where a pipe delivers water from the Odaw River, which flows through the nearby dump. The black mud continuously piles on the beach and into the ocean, a mere 200 meters away from clueless fishermen, families and tourists. Here a couple of unsuspecting, sunbathing American students are interviewed, smiling and explaining how great the beach and water are. And this is a scene where the documentary somewhat fails in my humble opinion. Scaring tourism away is detrimental to countries that depend on it, not that Ghana’s economy entirely depends on it, but it certainly can’t hurt. The filmmaker probably has the best of intentions but I am not sure what was gained by showing the oblivious vacationers right next to the dump. Perhaps they felt the images would carry a deeper impact if they featured “people like us”. It’s not just the poor little African babies, it could be Kelly from your freshman sociology class!
So, in summation, we have loose customs practices, corporations and governments that seem to look the other way, an uneducated and poor population, cargo loads of toxic junk (growing at three times the rate of normal junk), AND international crime syndicates involved. It seems somewhat hopeless. But maybe there are things we could do (but probably won’t): -Computer/TV/Electronic goods companies could start recycling programs, where consumers trade in old equipment for discounted new one. -Increase the control on the shipping (not the receiving) end of the e-waste trade. In other words, have more than four men checking all of Western Europe’s garbage. We can’t expect third world countries to implement regulations -The government could grant scrapping primes for the purchase of new vehicles, like they do in Germany. -The cost of new electronics could include a recycling or processing cost to ensure companies have the means to safely recycle used goods. -Invent a time machine and re-think the way we live before it’s too late.
