For several years Italian photographer Valentino Bellini has been traveling through India, China and parts of Africa telling the hazardous story of e-waste.
Bellini’s photo story BITROT focuses on our extreme consumerism but also highlights the green alternatives that many countries have adopted.
Electronic waste (e-waste) is mounting faster than any other type of waste. With an annual volume that goes between 40 and 50 million tons, according to the UNEP (United Nation Environment Program), the growing amount of e-waste could increase exponentially, as much as 500 times over the coming decade. Countries like India, China and some African regions where the technology industry is growing fast are especially at risk.
This waste contains dozens of substances dangerous to human health and the environment and many components cannot be metabolized by nature. This is the reason why about 80% of the e-waste produced in developed countries (North America and Europe on the top of the list) is not disposed of domestically, but shipped, to developing countries on cargo ships, where it is illegally disposed.
While waste has always been a side effect of human production, cultural consumerism and planned obsolescence have created a true “waste economy.” No longer do humans use a product until it is no longer useful, but rather until it is no longer fashionable.
It is important to realize though that the excess that one region enjoys implies a deficit in another and developing countries are becoming typecast as dumping grounds to serve the profits of industry. Disposing of a PC by sending it to a dumpster in Africa costs $2, while it would cost $20 to sustainably recycle.
This environmental burden creates a situation of reliance where once localized natural resources could sustain the resident population. This project examines the dehumanizing effects of modern day colonization on individuals and nations.
In the solitude of life online there is loss of contact with the materiality of technological objects, so we are stunned to witness the gaze of adolescents finding those objects again in the form of a toxic dumpster.
Guiyu, China: Mountains of fans accumulated over the years on the edge of a secondary road.
June 10, 2013
Odaw River, Accra, Ghana.
The Odaw River and the Korle Lagoon are full of every kind of waste coming from the Agbobloshie landfill and from the nearby slums where they use the river like a latrine. A couple of hundreds metres downhill the river and lagoon flow into the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic cean.
The government of Ghana is trying to restore the natural conditions of the lagoon thanks to the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project (KLERP).
June 26, 2013
Shahdara, Lahore, Pakistan.
A woman taking apart imported electronic devices. She separates the components that she will sell to specialized retailers
June 19, 2013
Agbobloshie, Accra, Ghana
A man is burning electronic scraps in the e-waste dump of Agbobloshie.
February 11, 2014
Lian River, Guiyu, China.
A branch of the Lian River, a minor river that flows into the South China Sea. Here, every night, huge piles of electrical and electronic waste, together with other waste derived from the manufacture (another business very present in this region) are accumulated on the banks of the river and are set on fire.
These wastes are the last link in the chain, the result of all the processes of cannibalization and recycling. From these materials it is no longer possible to extract anything that has a value, they are burned in the open air thus creating serious pollution problems for air and the surrounding waterways.
March 10, 2014
Huaqing Recycling Solution Centre, Qingyuan, China.
One of about three thousand workers employed works during the separation of different materials from electric cables, separating here the copper wires from the plastic sheaths. The electrical materials processed here come exclusively from China because of laws that prevent the import.
The Huaqing recycling centre is the largest of Guangdong Province and the second largest recycling centre in China, only after Bejing’s.
June 3, 2013
Walton Road, Lahore, Pakistan.
A boy on the roof of his house is preparing a chemical tank where, through a very complex procedure, he will extract gold from printed circuits that were parts of broken computers.
His father had to pay a great amount of money so that his son could learn this technique from another person, but this investment is allowing them to increase the profits of their small business that is specialized in the recycling of electronic waste.
June 5, 2013
Lahore, Pakistan.
A guy stand in front of a huge pile of electronic components which will be later processed to extract precious metals.
February 17, 2014
Wagha Town, Lahore, Pakistan.
Trucks full of metallic materials coming from the disposal of electric and electronic waste arrive to this foundry daily. Here the metal, along with some other metal scrap of different provenience, is melted at a temperature of 1800 degrees Celsius. In this way, they create new metallic materials and use them in the construction field.
July 12, 2013
Old Seelampur, New Delhi, India.
A boy is boiling some old transistors in metal pots. In this way, the plastic will melt and he will be able to gather the metallic parts and sell them.
Most of the time, this technique is carried out in a yard or in private houses, just like in this case. The consequences are severe problems to the health of the worker, because of the toxic smoke produced by burning plastic.
November 25, 2014
Guiyu, China
On the outside of a workshop where there are dismantled and recycled electrical and electronic components.
January 31, 2014
Yaocuowei, China.
A worker dismantles electronic equipment in his backyard, between the streets of Yaocuowei, a village adjacent to the town of Guiyu, which keeps track of the largest streams of electrical and electronic waste in the world. Here, the vast majority of the population of over one hundred thousand inhabitants is involved in this type of work.
The damage to the surrounding environment are incalculable.
January 25, 2014
Qingyuan, China
A big family-run business that separates and sells materials derived from refrigeration systems and cables for high-voltage electricity. The materials processed here come from Europe and the United States, despite the legislation that prevents the import.
Here the workers are paid according to the weight of recycled materials product in the day, on average from 60 to 100 yuan (10 to 15$) for about 8/10 hours work per day.
They normally work by night because electricity is cheaper.
September 15, 2014
Odaw River, Accra, Ghana.
The Odaw River and the Korle Lagoon are full of every kind of wastes coming from the Agbobloshie landfill and from the nearby slums where they use the river like a latrine. A couple of hundreds meters downhill the river and lagoon flow into the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean.
The government of Ghana is trying to restore the natural conditions of the lagoon thanks to the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration project (KLERP).
Sources: bitrotproject.com
