Old gadgets creating a wasteland
By Damon Beres, Huffington Post
Your iPhone isn’t biodegradable.
Of course, you know that. But what you might not understand is the massive problem that electronic waste represents for our planet. Arecent report from United Nations University in Japan declared that about 46 million tons of e-waste — discarded phones, computer screens, lamps, microwaves and so on — were produced in 2014 alone. That amount is only expected to rise in the coming years.
Many of these devices have toxic components. A lot of them could be recycled — but aren’t. Instead, they’re shipped to developing countries — sometimes illegally — where they end up in landfills, waterways or public spaces.
Since 2013, the jarring photographs of the BIT ROT Project have shined a light on the human price of electronic waste, showing civilians digging through potentially dangerous heaps or struggling to dispose the materials themselves.
