Wires and Cables are Brought to the Lyari River Before Being Set Alight

After dismantling and separating e-waste, the wires and cables remaining are brought to the Lyari river and set alight. After the plastic is burnt off, the metals are reclaimed.

Unique identifier: GP01J9I

Type: Image

Shoot date: 14/08/2008

Locations: Asia, Karachi, Lyari, Pakistan

Credit line: © Robert Knoth / Greenpeace

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)

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Toxics E-Waste Documentation in Pakistan

In the Karachi district of Lyari, hundreds of workers, including teenage children, earn their livelihoods by dismantling electronic scrap and extracting valuable components such as copper to sell. This is an insight into the personal cost of e-waste. Thousands of tons of e-waste such as discarded PCs, mobile phones and TVs, are dumped in Africa and Asia every year. Greenpeace research shows that some of this waste is exported from Europe to Pakistan.

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