A fresh outlook on used electronics: new documentary in the making

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by two enthusiastic young film makers, Juan Solera and Albert Julia, for the documentary they are producing on the management of e-waste in a globalized world. Before meeting them, I had thought this theme was pretty much exhausted: the dismal conditions in which poor people in some parts of Africa dismantle obsolete electronics imported from the developed world are already well documented in films and photos. Albert and Juan’s film will of course also look at these. But beyond that, they want it to show the broader picture with all its complexities and contradictions. They showed me segments featuring interviews with a Ghanian government official, a Ghanian journalist, and a Nigerian business man accused of illegal e-waste traffic for exporting functional used electronic equipment from Europe to his home country for resale. They will talk to the lawyers involved in the case. They went to see the conditions in the home village of a waste picker. They wanted to know the role of international policy, what it can and cannot do, and how it could be improved – including a detailed explanation of how an international treaty works. It is a real pleasure to be a small part of this effort to look beyond the obvious, go beyond the well-trodden paths. I much look forward to seeing the finished product, which I hope will show that reuse and recycling of electronics in today’s globalized world is more than “dumping on the poor”.