Tokyo strikes gold, silver and bronze with e-waste Olympic medals

Yahoo – AFP, February 8, 2019

Tokyo's organising committee in 2017 launched a project to collect assorted
electronic waste -- including old smartphones and laptops -- from the public
to collect metal for the medals.

All medals for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be made from metal collected by recycling electronic waste, games organisers said on Friday.

Tokyo's organising committee in 2017 launched a project to collect assorted electronic waste -- including old smartphones and laptops -- from the public to collect metal for the medals.

Recycled metal has also been collected from local Japanese businesses and industry.

In a statement issued on Friday, organisers said the collection was expected to reach its goal and will end in late March.

By November last year, municipal authorities had already collected 47,488 tonnes of discarded devices, with the public handing in another five million used phones to a local network provider.

Organisers had set a target of 2,700 kgs (about 5,950 pounds) of bronze, 30.3 kgs (67 pounds) of gold and 4,100 kg (about 9,040 pounds) of silver.

They hit the target for bronze last June, and by October had more than 90 percent of the gold and 85 percent of the silver.

"It is estimated that the remaining amounts of metal required to manufacture all Olympic and Paralympic medals can be extracted from the devices already donated," the organisers said.

Recycled metals have been used in previous years to make Olympic medals, including in Rio where some 30 percent of the silver and bronze in medals came from recycled materials.

The designs for the Tokyo 2020 medals will be unveiled later this year.

Turning e-waste into art at Ghana's toxic dump

Yahoo – AFP, Stacey KNOTT, 27 December 2017

A young man carries an old refrigerator at Agbogbloshie dumpsite in Accra

Joseph Awuah-Darko sits on a stool at one of the world's largest electronic waste dumps, watching polystyrene and insulation cables burn on the blackened ground.

"It's survival and dystopia," says the 21-year-old British-born Ghanaian, surveying the stretch of wasteland around him as dense plumes of acrid smoke rise into the air.

Awuah-Darko and his university friends have ambitious plans for the sprawling Agbogbloshie dumping ground in Ghana's capital, Accra.

In January this year, he co-founded the non-profit Agbogblo.Shine Initiative, which encourages people working at the dump to turn waste into high-end furniture.

The dump workers typically risk exposure to harmful fumes by burning obsolete and unwanted appliances such as mobile phones, computers, televisions and plastics that are brought to Ghana from around the world.

After burning, they salvage and resell copper and other metals from these leftovers of modern consumer culture.

The dump and scrapyard sit next to the heavily polluted Odaw River in the slum-like area, home to an estimated 40,000 people.

The United Nations has said that salvaging materials for recycling provides income for more than 64 million people in the developing world.

Ghana is said to have the largest informal recycling industry in Africa and imports some 40,000 tonnes of this e-waste annually.

Ghanaian artist Joseph Awuah-Darko and his university friends have ambitious 

plans for the sprawling Agbogbloshie dumping ground, encouraging people working

at the dump to turn waste into high-end furniture

'We are suffering here'

When Awuah-Darko first saw the piles of circuit boards, wires and plastics at Agbogbloshie he decided he wanted to use his artistic talent as a force for change.

So he set up the Agbogblo.Shine project with Cynthia Muhonja, a fellow student from Ashesi University, about an hour's drive from Accra.

They repurpose the electronic scraps, "upcycling" them into furniture, and offer training for the young men who work at the dump to create the pieces.

The students straddle two worlds -- a privileged life on the lush campus of a private university in a forested area, and the harsh reality of life for some of Ghana's poorest people.

Mohamed Abdul Rahim, who is in charge of about 20 young men, has been working at Agbogbloshie since 2008.

The 25-year-old from the north of Ghana works 12-hour days, six days a week. On average the workers make only about 20 cedi each ($4.50, 3.75 euros) a day.

He knows the work is bad for his health but doesn't see any other option. However he is optimistic that Awuah-Darko's initiative will help.

Agbogbloshie dumpsite in Accra sits next to the heavily polluted Odaw River 

in a slum-like area that is home to an estimated 40,000 people

"We are suffering here because the heat is there, the smoke, too, it disturbs us. If we see good work we will go join it and leave this," he says.

The toxic fumes hurt his lungs, while his hips and waist ache from carrying heavy objects to burn. The money he earns supports his mother, wife and three children.

The ground he works on is black, muddy and littered with plastic bags, cables, bottles and broken shoes alongside smashed television sets and computer monitors.

Workers use plastics and polystyrene as fuel to melt down components to extract the copper.

Grandfather clock

Awuah-Darko recognises that the people of Agbogbloshie "are basically in pursuit of what we all want, which is a better life".

"Unfortunately, the side effects or the by-product of this is the detriment of their health," he said.

He hopes that his initiative will not only improve their lives but also the planet, as waste from the site is given another life.

When Ghanaian artist Joseph Awuah-Darko first saw the piles of circuit boards, 

wires and plastics at Agbogbloshie he decided he wanted to use his artistic talent 

as a force for change

Awuah-Darko's first upcycled work is a grandfather clock, made from a galvanised car axle, aluminium and part of a discarded wall clock.

Two high-end hotels in Accra are currently vying to buy the unusual timepiece, he said, and with such interest he has plans to create more and expand operations.

Awuah-Darko sees a future where around 100 people from Agbogbloshie can leave their harmful work to build furniture.

He also wants to exhibit the creations at major galleries around the world and sell them at auction houses.

That would be a world away for someone like Mohammed Sofo, a thin 26-year-old with small tattoos on his face.

But Sofo wants to live in a world where he does not have to burn waste to survive.

"Some people think we are bad because they think we are mad persons," he said.

"If we get money no one will look at us like that. Some day will come when no one will be working here."

New electronic waste recycling plant in Moerdijk

DutchNews, July 7, 2016

Moerdijk port area: Ossipz via
Wikimedia Commons

Mitsubishi Materials Corporation is building an electronic waste recycling centre in the port and industrial area of Moerdijk, North Brabant, reports the Financiele Dagblad.

The Japanese non-ferrous metals and cement manufacturer will inspect circuit boards and other waste electronic parts, transporting recyclable waste to Japan to be processed. 

About 50 new jobs will be created, according to the Brabant Development Agency. Construction has started and the centre should be operational in 2017.

World's mountain of electrical waste reaches new peak of 42m tonnes

The biggest per-capita tallies were in countries known for green awareness, such as Norway and Denmark, with Britain fifth and US ninth on the UN report’s list

The Guardian, AFP, Sunday 19 April 2015

A fridge dump in Manchester. Almost two-thirds of global e-waste was made
up of discarded kitchen and laundry devices. Photograph: Phil Noble/PA

A record amount of electrical and electronic waste was discarded around the world in 2014, with the biggest per-capita tallies in countries that pride themselves on environmental consciousness, a report said.

Last year, 41.8m tonnes of so-called e-waste – mostly fridges, washing machines and other domestic appliances at the end of their life – was dumped, the UN report said.

That’s the equivalent of 1.15m heavy trucks, forming a line 23,000km (14,300 miles) long, according to the report, compiled by the United Nations University, the UN’s educational and research branch.

Less than one-sixth of all e-waste was properly recycled, it said.

In 2013, the e-waste total was 39.8m tonnes – and on present trends, the 50-million-tonne mark could be reached in 2018.

Topping the list for per-capita waste last year was Norway, with 28.4kg (62.5lbs) per inhabitant.

It was followed by Switzerland (26.3kg), Iceland (26.1kg), Denmark (24.0kg), Britain (23.5kg), the Netherlands (23.4kg), Sweden (22.3kg), France (22.2kg) and the United States and Austria (22.1kg).

The region with the lowest amount of e-waste per inhabitant was Africa, with 1.7kg per person. It generated a total of 1.9m tonnes of waste.

In volume terms, the most waste was generated in the United States and China, which together accounted for 32% of the world’s total, followed by Japan, Germany and India.

Waste that could have been recovered and recycled was worth $52bn, including 300 tonnes of gold – equal to 11% of the world’s gold production in 2013.

But it also included 2.2m tonnes of harmful lead compounds, as well as mercury, cadmium and chromium, and 4,400 tonnes of ozone-harming chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases.

“Worldwide, e-waste constitutes a valuable ‘urban mine’ – a large potential reservoir of recyclable materials,” UN under secretary-general David Malone said.

“At the same time, the hazardous content of e-waste constitutes a ‘toxic mine’ that must be managed with extreme care.”

Almost 60% of e-waste by weight came from large and small kitchen, bathroom and laundry appliances.

Seven percent was generated by discarded mobile phones, calculators, personal computers and printers.

Related Articles:

Toxic 'e-waste' dumped in poor nations, says United Nations

Home for some, e-waste dump for the world

Deutsche Welle, 7 January 2014

The e-waste dump Agbogbloshie exemplifies the downside of globalization: It's the bitter end of a supply chain where children, instead of going to school, wander barefoot gathering bits of salvaged metal for pennies.

Black, poisonous smoke darkens the sky above Agbogbloshie, the final destination for electronic waste shipped from all over the globe. Some 50,000 people, including many children, live here - at one of the world's largest e-waste dumping grounds.

Literally tons of old electronics burn in countless open fires, making my skin burn and itch as I walk through the grounds. There's a metallic taste in my mouth, and my head throbs. Meter-high, dazzling, green flames release huge wafts of black, poisonous fumes. It's like an apocalyptic painting come to life.

People burn the cables and circuit boards to get the poor man's gold within: copper, aluminium, lead - valued raw materials for industry.

Sacrificing their health

Badugu is 25 years old. He can't say how long he's been getting copper coils and metal plates out of old radios. He only knows that he has no choice - this is his livelihood.

"I want money, that's why I come do this work," he says. "Today is very bad," he added. He describes himself as having a "problem inside" due to all the toxic smoke.

Next to Badugu, several children are busy breaking apart old televisions. Some kids drag speaker magnets strung on cords behind them, wandering the grounds for hours so bits of metal stick to the magnets. They then sell their catch - bits of circuit board, screws, aluminium, copper - to metal traders next door. Their income amounts to just a few euro cents.

Wearing plastic sandals and a torn T-shirt, Peter stands on a mountain of glass shards, old freezers, copy machines and car batteries; at his feet, pink ink from printer cartridges coat the black ground. He shows me his arms and legs, which are covered in cuts from broken glass and sharp slivers of metal.

"I'm sick in my head," he says, describing his constant headaches. Many children here have breathing problems, and cough up blood. Some, Peter says, also have problems with their eyes. His siblings work here as well. Peter's mother sells sweets on the street. He doesn't know where his father is.

"I want to get money, take my money and go to school. That's why I am here," Peter says forcefully.

E-waste from Europe

The grounds are full of heavy metals from televisions and computers. Toxic brominated flame retardants, which inhibit the ignition of combustible organic materials, are all around.

The children who live and work here have a wide range of ailments - from kidney disease, to liver malfunction, to problems with other organs. Ghanaian environmental activist Mike Anane, who's been coming to Agbogbloshie for years, can attest to the toxic effect on the kids.

The children's illnesses are "a result of their exposure to e-waste from the industrialized countries," Anane says.

Anane has been gathering evidence on how the rich Western world is dumping its electronic waste in Africa. "From Germany, from Denmark, China - the world's computers, television sets, e-waste. They all come here to die!" he says. This waste is destroying the environment - and making people sick, he adds.

"Will this ever stop?" he wonders.

Trade brings consequences

Despite months of inquiries, phone calls and emails, as well as personal visits to municipal offices, Ghana's officials wouldn't agree to be interviewed. Only Mike Anane seems able to provide information on the dump.

"In the past, a lot of dumping used to go on in Nigeria as well. E-waste seems to go where the economy is booming, where trade seems to be increasing," Anane says. With Ghana's international trade also came e-waste. "It is very easy for the organized crime involved in this activity to slip these containers into our ports," he points out.

The Basel Convention, which some 170 nations have signed, forbids the export of technological waste from Europe. Despite this, about 500 containers full of old electronic devices land in Agbogbloshie every month. They are declared as used items, and are therefore fully legal. Some exporters even believe that they are helping Africans, Anane says.

"But there is no way that we can properly recycle or properly dispose of this toxic electronic waste," he states.

Vending old electronics

In neighborhoods around the dump, shops have taken over entire lanes to sell the electronics.

Rockson is one vendor who sells everything: old air-conditioning parts, car batteries, microwaves. The apparent bestsellers are flat-screen displays, the merchant says, which sell for 200 cedi - about 100 euros.

He gets most of his wares from Italy. The rear section of the shop is stuffed with old Italian newspapers, insulation from the transport container.

"It's a good business - we have a lot of customers," Rockson says. Ghanaians trust original brands, not cheaper Chinese copies, he adds.

I discover some items from Germany - much to Rockson's delight. A small battery-powered vacuum cleaner has made its way across oceans to this store. "Yeah, very, very good quality, they like it," Rockson says.

Rockson admits that not all of the items actually work. "We buy in bulk, we buy quantities or we buy untested," he says. Many of the items appear to be 10 to 20 years old.

E-waste trading has been going on in Accra for about a decade. From every container, perhaps 15 or 20 percent of the devices work - the rest is sold to scrap dealers for the boys to pick through.

No more 'playing ostrich'

Back at the dump, 18-year-old Maxwell is tending a big fire. Along with some friends, he's burning up old heaters and auto parts. His eyes are frighteningly yellow - a sign of liver stress. Maxwell, too, has come to Accra from a poor village in northern Ghana.

"My mother and father, we don't have anything," he says. "That's why I am here, to work," Maxwell says. He sends his earnings to his family.

Maxwell pokes a metal pole into a burning air conditioner. With his bare hands, he pulls apart the red-hot metal pieces roasting in the flames. Next to us, young women stand in the biting smoke, selling small bags of water - to cool down the hot wires and copper coils. A small girl, perhaps two years old, without sandals and without a diaper, stumbles toward me, looking for her mother.

Anane wants European countries to stop dumping their e-waste in Africa and address the problems they cause.

"The industrialized countries, the European Union, cannot continue to play ostrich," Anane says. They know the electronic waste is shipped here, and should do something about it, he thinks.

Consumers need to be more aware of where their waste ends up. And recyclers should be held responsible for making sure the work is done in conditions safe for people and the environment, Anane says.

As the sun sets, we come across Joshua, a five-year-old with a vacant face. He's on his way to work at the dump, carrying a metal bin on his head. And he's in complete despair - some of the bigger boys have taken away his work tool: the speaker magnet. He can't collect magnetic metals now, and he doesn't know what to do.

Then I find the remains of a copy machine from Cologne, Germany. A sticker on the side of the old machine says: "This copy machine is suitable for use with recycled paper."

It's an ironic farewell from one of the worst e-waste dumps in the world.

Toxic 'e-waste' dumped in poor nations, says United Nations

Millions of tonnes of old electronic goods illegally exported to developing countries, as people dump luxury items

The Guardian, The Observer, John Vidal, Saturday 14 December 2013

Tablets and other electronic goods bought this Christmas are destined to
create a flood of 'e-waste'. Photograph: Anthony Upton/Rex Features

Millions of mobile phones, laptops, tablets, toys, digital cameras and other electronic devices bought this Christmas are destined to create a flood of dangerous "e-waste" that is being dumped illegally in developing countries, the UN has warned.

The global volume of electronic waste is expected to grow by 33% in the next four years, when it will weigh the equivalent of eight of the great Egyptian pyramids, according to the UN's Step initiative, which was set up to tackle the world's growing e-waste crisis. Last year nearly 50m tonnes of e-waste was generated worldwide – or about 7kg for every person on the planet. These are electronic goods made up of hundreds of different materials and containing toxic substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and flame retardants. An old-style CRT computer screen can contain up to 3kg of lead, for example.

Once in landfill, these toxic materials seep out into the environment, contaminating land, water and the air. In addition, devices are often dismantled in primitive conditions. Those who work at these sites suffer frequent bouts of illness.

An indication of the level of e-waste being shipped to the developing world was revealed by Interpol last week. It said almost one in three containers leaving the EU that were checked by its agents contained illegal e-waste. Criminal investigations were launched against 40 companies. "Christmas will see a surge in sales and waste around the world," says Ruediger Kuehr, executive secretary of Step. "The explosion is happening because there's so much technical innovation. TVs, mobile phones and computers are all being replaced more and more quickly. The lifetime of products is also shortening."

According to the Step report, e-waste – which extends from old fridges to toys and even motorised toothbrushes – is now the world's fastest growing waste stream. China generated 11.1m tonnes last year, followed by the US with 10m tonnes, though there was significant difference per capita. For example, on average each American generated 29.5kg, compared to less than 5kg per person in China.

By 2017, Kuehr expects the volume of end-of-life TVs, phones, computers, monitors, e-toys and other products to be enough to fill a 15,000-mile line of 40-tonne lorries. In Europe, Germany discards the most e-waste in total, but Norway and Liechtenstein throw away more per person. Britain is now the world's seventh most prolific producer, discarding 1.37m tonnes, or about 21kg per person. No figures are available from government or industry on how much is exported.

Although it is legal to export discarded goods to poor countries if they can be reused or refurbished, much is being sent to Africa or Asia under false pretences, says Interpol. "Much is falsely classified as 'used goods' although in reality it is non-functional. It is often diverted to the black market and disguised as used goods to avoid the costs associated with legitimate recycling," said a spokesman. "A substantial proportion of e-waste exports go to countries outside Europe, including west African countries. Treatment in these countries usually occurs in the informal sector, causing significant environmental pollution and health risks for local populations," he said.

Few countries understand the scale of the problem, because no track is kept of all e-waste, says the European Environment Agency, which estimates between 250,000 tonnes and 1.3m tonnes of used electrical products are shipped out of the EU every year, mostly to west Africa and Asia. "These goods may subsequently be processed in dangerous and inefficient conditions, harming the health of local people and damaging the environment," said a spokesman.

A new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests that the US discarded 258.2m computers, monitors, TVs and mobile phones in 2010, of which only 66% was recycled. Nearly 120m mobile phones were collected, most of which were shipped to Hong Kong, Latin America and the Caribbean. The shelf life of a mobile phone is now less than two years, but the EU, US and Japanese governments say many hundreds of millions are thrown away each year or are left in drawers. In the US, only 12m mobile phones were collected for recycling in 2011 even though 120m were bought. Meanwhile, newer phone models are racing on to the market leaving old ones likely to end up in landfills. Most phones contain precious metals. The circuit board can contain copper, gold, zinc, beryllium, and tantalum, the coatings are typically made of lead and phone makers are now increasingly using lithium batteries. Yet fewer than 10% of mobile phones are dismantled and reused. Part of the problem is that computers, phones and other devices are becoming increasingly complex and made of smaller and smaller components.

The failure to recycle is also leading to shortages of rare-earth minerals to make future generations of electronic equipment.

Could Fairphone help clean up supply chains in the smartphone market?

A new ethical smartphone raises questions whether they can ever be truly conflict-free but it will certainly shake up the market

Guardian Professional, Rich McEachran,  19 September 2013

Founded at the beginning of 2013, Fairphone is aiming to disrupt the status
quo of the smartphone market. Photograph: Fairphone

This article is being typed on a Samsung laptop and the interviews have been conducted via an Apple product. In the past, boycotting the electronic giants has been seen as ineffective as there hasn't been a conflict-free alternative to turn to in protest. Now there is.

Founded at the beginning of the year, Fairphone is aiming to disrupt the status quo of the smartphone market. Costing €325 (around £275 or $440) it's reasonably priced, and given the recent announcement of the iPhone 5S & 5C, its launch is timely.

It started in 2010 as a campaign to create awareness of abuses in electronics supply chains. The Dutch social enterprise soon realised that creating a conflict-free smartphone was a tangible goal. Using existing initiatives such as Conflict-Free Tin Initiative and Solutions for Hope, it has managed to ensure sources of tin and tantalum are conflict-free and it's trying to be as transparent as possible throughout the supply chain, from the mines to the factories to the end user. It has even released a cost breakdown of where every pound is spent. Part of each sale goes towards Closing the Loop, a global programme that encourages the reuse and recycling of old mobile phones.

Fairphone has received 15,000 pre-orders with 25,000 handsets available, and this week the company will showcase the product at its UK launch at the London Design Festival.

Fairphone openly admits that its product isn't "100% ethical", but is proud of the fact that it is putting people and social values first. It seems consumers understand this, too. A Twitter search brings up plenty of tweets from people who have bought a handset. The majority of Twitter users approached indicated that they were buying into the movement, supporting the cause and helping create public awareness.

Natalie Foo, co-owner of an e-consultancy firm whose clients have included an iron ore mining company, told me that she was inspired to buy one after meeting Fairphone's product strategist last year, when the phone was still in its incubation stage.

"By examining the supply chain and manufacturing processes in detail, they can encourage people to be more conscious about their purchases and educate them on what actually goes on," explains Foo.

One user who preferred to remain anonymous, said that "splitting hairs over whether a product can ever be totally free of conflict is creating a false dichotomy" and that people should just "buy into the feel good factor of Fairphone helping clean up supply chains".

Another anonymous user, who works in software development, said they would avoid buying it because instead of being run on a free software, it is run on the Android operating-system, a software market dominated by Samsung, which makes 95% of Android phone sales.

The complexity of the relationships in the electronics industry – for instance, Apple has been known to use parts produced by Samsung – does beg the question of whether a phone can ever be free from conflict or avoid being connected to a company that is failing to clean up its act.

Those who had bought the Fairphone seemed to have done so partly out of a feeling of guilt. Buying the phone was seen as a way to absolve themselves from indirectly supporting and funding the illegal mining and war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"While owning a phone does not make a person responsible for these violations, it does link us to the atrocities, and given the intimacy and constancy of these objects in our lives, the connection is ever-present and thereby disturbing" says Daniel Rothenberg, a lecturer at Arizona State University who presented a paper in July titled Is your cell phone linked to atrocities in Africa?.

At the same time, those asked admitted that if Apple, Nokia or Samsung were to release their own conflict-free phones they would consider buying one.

"A shift like that in the industry, from [one of the big three companies], will be a game-changer," explains Bandi Mbubi, the founder of Congo Calling. "And it is no longer too far off. The ground has been prepared [by Fairphone]. The movement has brought the end-users closer, at least psychologically, to the producers of raw materials. It has raised unprecedented awareness in the minds of consumers."

There is still reason to be cautious, though. If the electronic giants produce their own conflict-free smartphone, then arguably Fairphone has set out to achieve what it wanted and that is to put consumer pressure on companies to clean up their supply chains. However, if companies start making claims of being fairer and more ethical without having the evidence to validate them, then consumers are likely to sniff them out.

Due to the nature of supply chains, and as companies don't buy directly from mines but from smelters, there is always the risk that illegal minerals could be smuggled in. This convoluted manufacturing system has given companies an excuse to pardon themselves from any wrongdoing.

The hope though is that with the Dodd-Frank legislation coming into effect next year, companies will no longer have excuses and can legitimately claim that their supply chains are 100% conflict-free by the end of 2014. Sasha Lezhnev, a senior policy analyst at the Enough Project, a humanitarian organisation dedicated to ending genocide and crimes against humanity, believes that this is a realistic aim and that a key step towards achieving this is the audit of smelters. As it stands, only a quarter of smelters have gone through conflict-free audits.

"Over the next year, as companies implement the legislation, this number should go up significantly, to the point that electronics companies can weed out the uncertified smelters from their supply chains" says Lezhnev.

"Another key step is to make sure those companies also help build a clean minerals trade in Congo by buying from certified mines, because if they don't, the smuggled minerals will come back to bite them in a dirty supply chain."

Until then, Fairphone is a welcome development in highlighting the issues of ethical conduct of the smartphone market.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox

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Ghana accuses UK recycling firm Environcom of illegal fridge imports

Country impounds huge shipment and claims British companies are using it as dumping ground for toxic old appliances

The Guardian, Afua Hirsch, west Africa correspondent, Monday 4 November 2013

 

A computer dump in Accra, Ghana, in 2009, since when the country has clamped
down on the import of waste electrical goods. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

One of the UK's largest recycling companies has imported thousands of banned second-hand fridges into Ghana, according to the west African country's energy regulator.

Thousands of fridges discarded by British households have been shipped to Ghana by Environcom, which describes itself as the UK's largest electrical re-use and recycling company, flouting rules designed to protect the country's environment against harmful chemicals, according to the Ghanaian authorities.

"Environcom have sent a shipment of about 37 containers – almost 4,000 second-hand fridges – to Ghana," said Victor Owusu, public affairs spokesman for Ghana's energy commission.

Environcom has links to British retailers Dixons and Argos, which supply used appliances to the company for recycling. It admitted exporting the fridges to Ghana but said it did so before the ban came into place.

"Environcom stopped exporting fridges to Ghana some months ago in line with the introduction of the ban, however some containers that left us on time got delayed in transit and arrived in Ghana late and containers that were received prior to the ban were also impounded," said a company spokesperson.

The Guardian has seen documents which show the fridges were shipped from Britain to Ghana in August this year, almost two months after the ban came into force. Environcom says it sells second-hand fridges to third parties to ship to Ghana, and that it could not be held responsible for delays during the process.

The Guardian has seen an email exchange between Environcom and the Ghanaian authorities in which the company threatened to withdraw plans to invest in a recycling plant in the country if it was not allowed to import parts from second-hand fridges.

"Environcom have been working on a multimillion GBP investment in Ghana … Your latest feedback has led us to question whether we withdraw from this project and look at alternative markets within west Africa," wrote Graeme Parkin from Environcom, in an email dated 21 June.

Environcom says it had been seeking to clarify the law in Ghana and was now working on a new agreement to invest in recycling facilities in the country.

There is increasing criticism of the practice of sending second-hand electrical goods to African countries, where many end up in toxic rubbish dumps scavenged by children and poisoning local environments.

A study by Greenpeace found that as much as 75% of "second-hand goods" imported to Africa could not be reused, and that in Ghana, goods that had been dumped were releasing hazardous substances into the environment, including toxic metal lead; chemicals such as the phthalates DEHP and DBP, which are known to interfere with sexual reproduction; and chlorinated dioxins known to promote cancer.

Second-hand fridges have been banned in Ghana since 1 January, after officials became increasingly concerned about the number of old electrical products no longer wanted by British households which were ending up in the country.

Ghana is the first country in the region to introduce a ban on old fridges, and officials hope it will reduce the quantities of toxic and ozone-unfriendly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and reduce the energy burden on its already squeezed national grid, where old fridges suck up more than half of the national energy output of 2,000 megawatts a year.

Ghanaian officials say numerous British companies are still importing second-hand fridges to Ghana in violation of the ban. "Since the ban came into force, we have made about 177 seizures of second-hand fridges," said Owusu. "Most of those have come from the UK – over 90% of the imports are coming from there. They know about the regulations, but they are errant companies that want to defy the law."

Environcom said discussions with the Ghanaian authorities about its impounded fridges were continuing. But Ghanaian officials said the shipment would be destroyed, and accused Britain of being the main exporter of unlawful second-hand electrical goods to the country.

"We are also determined that this ban of second-hand fridges into Ghana becomes a success story," said Owusu. "Now that energy is becoming so critical, who would allow their country to become a dumping ground for used refrigerators from the rest of the world?"

Environcom has come under the spotlight for sending second-hand electrical goods to Africa in the past.

Earlier this year company director Sean Feeney, a former senior Dixons executive, admitted Environcom had exported old-fashioned cathode-ray tube TVs to Africa when they became "hazardous" products, which could not be safely disposed of.

"In the past unscrupulous companies have used west Africa as a dumping ground," the Environcom spokesperson said. "In fact, when the new management came on board, Environcom stopped exporting refurbished TVs to Africa for many years because of the difficulties in controlling the end results and the impact on the local environment."

But as shipments of second-hand British fridges continue to arrive at its ports, Ghana said it would be making a complaint to the British government.

"We are going to file a complaint to the EU, and to the British high commission," Owusu said.

"I know that in the UK itself this kind of thing would not happen. I think they think it's Africa, so they can get away with it."

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Phonebloks: a phone that can be built like Lego

Phonebloks is a smartphone made up of separate parts that can be swapped and replaced like Lego so it lasts for ever and can be customized

The Telegraph, Radhika Sanghani, 25 Oct 2013

A screenshot of Phoneblok's design featured in the video Photo: Dave Movies 

A smartphone with detachable parts that could last forever has been designed.

Phonebloks is a sustainable device that can be built like Lego and would allow users to replace its parts over time instead of buying new smartphones.

Dutch designer Dave Hakkens designed it after his favourite camera broke and he was advised to buy a new one as it was cheaper than replacing the broken part.

He has not yet built the phone but his concept has generated a lot of interest and he told the BBC: "Right now, I'm thinking about what would be the best next step.

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"Would it be to build it myself, open-source, online - or partner up with companies and collaborators?

"Half of the world says it's possible, the other half says it's not possible. I don't think anyone really knows because no-one's really tried it."

The phone would have a replaceable screen and easily changeable "blocks" containing different elements such as the battery and chipset.

It would be easy to use so the average consumer could replace the parts themselves.

The project also has 959,233 supporters on its website and a video publicising it has had more than 16 million views on YouTube.

The video says: "Every day we throw away millions of electronic devices because they get old and worn out - but usually its only one of the components that causes the problem.

"Its simply because electronic devices are not designed to last."

The detachable blocks are connected to the base, and the pieces are attached by two small screws.

It allows the user to customise their phone, by upgrading their camera or attaching larger batteries or speakers depending on their needs.

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A New International Project Aims to Track U.S. Electronic Waste for Recycling

Looking for a source of rare earths? Try your stash of old cellphones

POPSCI, by Clay Dillow, 5.03.2011

Our Wired World, Disposed Of Curtis Palmer via Wikimedia

With rare earth supplies uncertain and gold and silver prices spiking, a new international project wants to mine a potentially huge untapped source of minerals and metals: that dresser drawer where you’re hoarding all your old cell phones.

Electronic waste is not a new problem. It’s estimated that only 10-15 percent of personal electronics--cellphones, computers, televisions, etc.--are properly recycled. Many are shipped abroad for “recycling” (where health and environmental laws are lax), but even among those many of the components, some of which are toxic, become landfill. The rest end up in dumps here in the U.S., or in that aforementioned dresser drawer where your Nokia 1600 still resides, just in case you need it someday (you won’t).

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The project, funded with $2.5 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and working with international partners, aims to help track U.S. electronic waste as it flows around the world in an effort to devise solutions and enhance recycling efforts. With help from port officials in West Africa and Asia, the project hopes to determine just how these discarded goods are moving, and what can be done to ensure they are properly recycled.

The idea isn’t just to keep toxic materials out of landfills--though that’s certainly a primary objective. One million cellphones reportedly can yield 53 pounds of gold, a commodity that topped $1,500 per ounce (per ounce!) recently. Also spiking in price recently: silver, of which 550 pounds can be extracted from the same one million phones. Add nearly ten tons of copper and a smattering of smaller quantities of valuable rare earth elements, and it’s not difficult to make economic sense of such an endeavor.

[Reuters]