When I came to the U.S. as a child, one of the many cultural shocks my family experienced was the idea of replacing things rather than fixing them. Back home, we were used to repairing things, from the refrigerator that my grandparents kept for 20 years, to a pair of shoes, which could be resoled and spiffed up for years. We were a middle class family and probably could have afforded to buy new things, but it just wasn’t part of our mentality to throw things away when they could still be used.
And really, waste does have consequences, especially with the advent of the technology revolution, which has created many toxic e-waste sites around the world. Luckily, not everyone is oblivious to the problem. Kyle Wiens is the co-founder of iFixit, a repair consultancy geared at repairmen and women in developing countries. He advises governments and manufacturers on how to repair, not dump, e-waste.
Wiens describes a trip to Agbogbloshie, a suburb of Acccra, Ghana, that was known at the time (2011) as the worst e-waste dumpsite in Africa. In the midst of the rubble he was surprised to discover an army of workers who were busy disassembling the waste to pull out parts that they would then resell. The lucky workers extracted the more profitable parts, while others vied for the more dangerous parts that were harder to extract. The ingenuity of a resourceful people had turned trash into recycled product.
Between salvaged parts and the used technology that is imported into Africa, the role of the technology repairman is growing there. Because the continent lacks an adequate number of e-waste recycling centers, these workers are key in helping reduce waste. So iFixit and Microsoft have teamed up to host repair-business workshops in Africa, providing repair manuals and hands-on training (including safety techniques) to the men and women on the front lines.
Wiens cautions that this step, while valuable, does not stop the wider problem of illegal e-waste dumping. But it’s a step in the right direction.
Original article on Slate Magazine:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/04/14/agbogbloshie_jua_kali_how_entrepreneurs_turn_e_waste_into_usable_products.html
And really, waste does have consequences, especially with the advent of the technology revolution, which has created many toxic e-waste sites around the world. Luckily, not everyone is oblivious to the problem. Kyle Wiens is the co-founder of iFixit, a repair consultancy geared at repairmen and women in developing countries. He advises governments and manufacturers on how to repair, not dump, e-waste.
Wiens describes a trip to Agbogbloshie, a suburb of Acccra, Ghana, that was known at the time (2011) as the worst e-waste dumpsite in Africa. In the midst of the rubble he was surprised to discover an army of workers who were busy disassembling the waste to pull out parts that they would then resell. The lucky workers extracted the more profitable parts, while others vied for the more dangerous parts that were harder to extract. The ingenuity of a resourceful people had turned trash into recycled product.
Between salvaged parts and the used technology that is imported into Africa, the role of the technology repairman is growing there. Because the continent lacks an adequate number of e-waste recycling centers, these workers are key in helping reduce waste. So iFixit and Microsoft have teamed up to host repair-business workshops in Africa, providing repair manuals and hands-on training (including safety techniques) to the men and women on the front lines.
Wiens cautions that this step, while valuable, does not stop the wider problem of illegal e-waste dumping. But it’s a step in the right direction.
Original article on Slate Magazine:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/04/14/agbogbloshie_jua_kali_how_entrepreneurs_turn_e_waste_into_usable_products.html