Lukas Sterzenbach

A significant portion of Europe’s textile waste and electronic waste is exported and removed from public perception.
Materials that are supposedly still functional or intended for reuse end up at dumping sites such as Agbogbloshie in Ghana, where they become waste.

Devices are dismantled and burned in order to extract and resell metals such as copper, aluminum, and iron.
In the process, not only reusable materials are produced, but also highly toxic substances such as dioxins, heavy metals, and fine particulate matter, which become part of the air, soil, and water.
The toxic byproducts of recycling do not only become part of the environment, but also part of the bodies of workers and residents, in the form of respiratory diseases, neurological damage, and long-term strain on organs.
A system emerges in which valuable raw materials are returned to the exporters, while the ecological and health-related consequences remain locally in Ghana.
Responsibility is outsourced, while the foundations of global consumption continue to be sustained.

Huge thank you to Boniface Ayindoo Anazoore, a student from Kumasi, who on slide four, five and six tells his perspective, working in Accra as a burner.