Photo Gallery On the Scrap Heap
People in the West throw away millions of old computers every year. Thousands of them end up in Accra, Ghana, where children like Danjuma (left) and Bismarck try to eke out a living by selling the scrap. But the toxic elements in the waste are slowly poisoning them.
The waste site at Agbogbloshie: The kids can make about a euro a day selling scrap they scavenge from old equipment.
The children and young people pull apart the computers, breaking the screens with rocks, then throw the internal electronics onto the fires.
Traders like Michael Ninicyi import the electronic equipment from Europe. "This business is good for Ghana and for the other countries," Ninicyi says.
Local activists say some of the kids working on the waste site will never reach the age of 25.
Danjuma has never used a working computer in his life. He is particularly interested in monitors, because they contain a lot of copper.
Bismarck stands next to the scales of a scrap dealer. He is 14 years old but looks small for his age.
The older boys play football every evening in an open space between the fires, a couple of joists forming the goals and emptied out computer monitors marking the corners of the field.
