SIDELINES //

The Terrible Cost of Ghana’s Electronic Waste Dump

by Mike Richard

e-waste Dumpsite of Agbogbloshie in Ghana
© Vibek Raj Maurya

As part of his final student thesis, photographer Vibek Raj Maurya visited the e-waste dumpsite of Agbogbloshie in Ghana:

… a wasteland of smoke and rubble nicknamed “Sodom and Gomorrah” by the locals. Plastic parts, wires, and pieces of metal and glass lie strewn across the terrain, alongside more immediately recognizable household objects like televisions and refrigerators. And the air is thick with the harsh smell of burning plastic and foul sewage gases drifting in from the heavily polluted Odaw River. Men and boys wander this bleak landscape in search of anything they can salvage and re-sell.

Read the full (and heartbreaking) story with photos at Tech Graffiti.

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About the Author

Vagabondish founding editor, Mike Richard, is a Rhode Island native, professional web designer and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, hiking and seeing the world. He enjoys knit hats, small, declarative sentences and speaking in the third person. His professional credits include "Woman's World magazine contributor" and having once been interviewed by Tyra Banks (seriously).