Title: The Burning Truth Behind an E-Waste Dump in Africa  | Science   | Smithsonian Magazine
Headings: The Burning Truth Behind an E-Waste Dump in Africa
The Burning Truth Behind an E-Waste Dump in Africa
Ending the toxic smoke rising from an iconic dump in Ghana will take more than curbing Western waste
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Content: In the course of a day, perhaps a few hundred pounds of wire are burned, with the remains sold for recycling to local metal dealers and Nigerian traders who frequent the area. Depending on when the insulation was made, the smoke emitted can contain dioxin, heavy metals and other pollutants that pose a strong threat to human health. Over the last half century, technologies have been developed to do that separation in an environmentally sound manner. But even the lowest-cost solutions tend to be too expensive for Ghana’s capital-poor recyclers. And if they were affordable, green methods would still be too slow compared to setting the wire on fire and burning off the insulation. The site poses an undeniable risk to air quality and human health. But solving the problem is about more than stopping Western exports of old electronics. “The problem is that reporters come here thinking this is the destination for old laptops exported from the United States,” explains Robin Ingenthron, CEO of Good Point Recycling in Burlington, Vermont. His firm exports used, working laptops to Ghana. “ But this isn’t the destination at all.