Upcycling e-waste trash into innovative treasure

ABSTRACT

Renewable energy associations note that solar panels installed in the early-2000s solar energy boom are now reaching the end of their 25- to 30-year lifespan. Benjamin Sovacool, of the University of Sussex’s Science Policy Research Unit, describes how the developed world’s attempt to reduce its carbon footprint has led to environmental and public health risks, gender discrimination, child labour, and ethnic discrimination in the global South. Markus Spitzbart, head Sustainable E-Waste Management in Ghana, German Corporation for International Cooperation Furthermore, the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) has set up a project to create new centres and training courses for e-waste recycling and disposal methods for recyclers and scrap collectors.