Ghana Accra Agbogbloshie Scrapyard
18 images Created 15 May 2018
Ghana, Accra, Agbogbloshie Scrapyard:
I have always been a bit technology curmudgeon, eeking out the last bit of life from my laptop, resisting the upgrade, saving pennies with second hand phones rather than the latest model. But I was still interested in where these objects went after I bundled them up and sent them away after a successful eBay listing as ‘not working, sold for spares’. What journey did my defunct tech go on long after being the latest and greatest gadget?
The scrapyard at Agbogbloshie has been well documented as a notorious e waste dumping ground for unwanted old tech from developed economies. But I found the activities and economy of the scrapyard more complex than I expected on my Saturday afternoon photo walk.
Amongst the scrap metal sorters and dealers there were computer repair shops, dealing in working second hand laptops. The computers that were not working were either repaired on site or were dismantled for spares including ram, hard drives, fans and keyboards. Items that were destined for scrap were sorted into bags of processors and wires, (which could photographed for a fee - I declined). The circuit boards appeared to have little value as they were plenty on the floor. The wires were sorted into similar bundles and transported by wheel barrow to the dealers and then the burners. The computer shop owners were not keen to have there business’s documented as they worried it may lead to a decline in the supply of second hand tech as it could be seen as part of a toxic ewaste story. I understood their concern but felt this was a shame as I saw it as the most ingenious part of the operation. I hope to get another opportunity to photograph this side of the scrapyard.
Elsewhere I met Ibrahim a scrap dealer who had been working on the dump for 8 years. He and his colleague Adbul Raheem were kind enough to take a break from dismantling some defunct refrigeration units and show me around. Abdul Raheem in his late 20’s had been working at the scrapyard for 12 years and was employed by Ibrahim as a Burner. His job was to remove the plastic isolation surrounding copper and other metals so that it could be sold for scrap. The quickest way of doing this was to burn away the plastic. He was delivered sorted bundles of wires by wheel barrow from the dealers (in this case photocopier wires and transformers). He and other young men burnt away the plastic for a fee and the smoking metal was returned to the dealers. Ibrahim told me ‘The smoke is very harmful to our health, when you breath it, in the night you cant sleep, your eyes will hurt and you will have trouble breathing in the evening.‘ He would like to leave the scrapyard and work in agriculture and Abdul Raheem says he would be happy with any other job.
I have always been a bit technology curmudgeon, eeking out the last bit of life from my laptop, resisting the upgrade, saving pennies with second hand phones rather than the latest model. But I was still interested in where these objects went after I bundled them up and sent them away after a successful eBay listing as ‘not working, sold for spares’. What journey did my defunct tech go on long after being the latest and greatest gadget?
The scrapyard at Agbogbloshie has been well documented as a notorious e waste dumping ground for unwanted old tech from developed economies. But I found the activities and economy of the scrapyard more complex than I expected on my Saturday afternoon photo walk.
Amongst the scrap metal sorters and dealers there were computer repair shops, dealing in working second hand laptops. The computers that were not working were either repaired on site or were dismantled for spares including ram, hard drives, fans and keyboards. Items that were destined for scrap were sorted into bags of processors and wires, (which could photographed for a fee - I declined). The circuit boards appeared to have little value as they were plenty on the floor. The wires were sorted into similar bundles and transported by wheel barrow to the dealers and then the burners. The computer shop owners were not keen to have there business’s documented as they worried it may lead to a decline in the supply of second hand tech as it could be seen as part of a toxic ewaste story. I understood their concern but felt this was a shame as I saw it as the most ingenious part of the operation. I hope to get another opportunity to photograph this side of the scrapyard.
Elsewhere I met Ibrahim a scrap dealer who had been working on the dump for 8 years. He and his colleague Adbul Raheem were kind enough to take a break from dismantling some defunct refrigeration units and show me around. Abdul Raheem in his late 20’s had been working at the scrapyard for 12 years and was employed by Ibrahim as a Burner. His job was to remove the plastic isolation surrounding copper and other metals so that it could be sold for scrap. The quickest way of doing this was to burn away the plastic. He was delivered sorted bundles of wires by wheel barrow from the dealers (in this case photocopier wires and transformers). He and other young men burnt away the plastic for a fee and the smoking metal was returned to the dealers. Ibrahim told me ‘The smoke is very harmful to our health, when you breath it, in the night you cant sleep, your eyes will hurt and you will have trouble breathing in the evening.‘ He would like to leave the scrapyard and work in agriculture and Abdul Raheem says he would be happy with any other job.
