At Fair Trade Recycling, we are fans of Dave Hakkens of the Netherlands and his maker & repair-stuff videos. It was with a mixture of delight and gritted teeth that we watched his new video on Agbogbloshie.
His video "A Free Trip" does portray the ingenuity and skill we tried to document in Africa, and does it with more flair than I could.
But he also opens with the headlines that junk is exported directly to Agbogbloshie by westerners to be dumped. That's just ridiculous and has been disproven by every study by USITC, MIT, SBC, etc.
So Dave, thanks for seeing people for what they can do rather than for what they cannot do.
But next time, do a little more homework.
Step 6 is 15-25 years after Step 1. Improving testing, or arresting #1 Africans, or boycotting #2 Africans, or selling brand new product to #3 Africans, does absolutely nothing. Donating money to E-Stewards has zero effect on Step 6. Even brand new stuff wears out, and according to Africans does so faster than "solid state" used electronics imported from Europe and USA.
Most of the NGO's emphasis is how to somehow stop accidental breakage, non-functioning parts, shipping damage, etc. (7%). But the point is that the ENTIRE chart above will wind up at a scrapyard SOMEDAY, and most of what's there today was imported decades ago.
His video "A Free Trip" does portray the ingenuity and skill we tried to document in Africa, and does it with more flair than I could.
But he also opens with the headlines that junk is exported directly to Agbogbloshie by westerners to be dumped. That's just ridiculous and has been disproven by every study by USITC, MIT, SBC, etc.
So Dave, thanks for seeing people for what they can do rather than for what they cannot do.
But next time, do a little more homework.
- The goods are exported by African Ex Pats (like Joe Benson) who are in close communication with buyers (#2)
- The goods are imported by African Tech Sector shops which buy mostly working but also do repair for consumers (#3)
- The goods are sold to African consumers and businesses.
- The goods are then USED FOR 5-25 years! Accra had electricity 50 years ago! Ghana has 20 television stations!
- At the end of 2 decades of use and storage and often re-repair, the "scrap" electronics are collected by scrappers from Old Fadama (not called "Sodom and Gomorrah"), house to house, via pushcart
- The scrap is traded, bought and sold, at Agbogbloshie (an automobile scrapyard) based on metals or parts value.
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| See Report at Resource Fever - Global Circular Economy of Strategic Metals (Bo2W) http://www.resourcefever.org/detail/items/global-circular-economy-of-strategic-metals-bo2w-chapter-ghana.html |
Most of the NGO's emphasis is how to somehow stop accidental breakage, non-functioning parts, shipping damage, etc. (7%). But the point is that the ENTIRE chart above will wind up at a scrapyard SOMEDAY, and most of what's there today was imported decades ago.
