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Video length: 3 min
Environment: the puzzle of recycling electronic devices
Environment: the puzzle of recycling electronic devices
(France 2)
What happens to electronic waste? Smartphones in particular contain toxic materials such as lead and mercury. Some of them head to Africa, where their recycling is complex.
By entire containers, they arrive every week at the port of Dakar, in Senegal. Broken television screens, computers or cell phones end up in informal markets. They come largely from Europe, which seeks to get rid of them with the help of exporters who resell them by the kilo. A parallel market has been created, where hundreds of little hands try to make something out of these old devices which sell for a few tens of euros once repaired.
Electronic waste
International laws allow electronic devices that still work to be resold for the second-hand market. As for products that cannot be repaired, are too old or too damaged, they become electronic waste. They do not have the right to be exported. However, this waste arrives massively in Africa, where some of the components, sometimes toxic, are recovered. Due to lack of resources, Senegal is currently only able to recycle 1% of its electronic waste. Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin and Nigeria absorb hundreds of thousands of tonnes of electronic waste from Europe every year.
