1st World Dumping Sites
Just outside of Kenya’s capital is the dump called Dandora. Covering over 75 acres, it is home to waste from countries the world around but specifically from 1st world countries that can afford to ship their refuse away. Kenya is known to tourists for its majestic environment and attracts people from around the globe to trek through its countryside on safari. You can bet that Dandora is never on any of these tours. Yet the thriving international e-commerce and internet companies would suffer without it.
The problem is that electronic waste is hard and expensive to recycle. Like car batteries, only worse. What many people do when they upgrade or purchase their new computer is to ‘donate’ their old computer or iPod or camera or whatever to a charity that ships these donations to developing countries. When these donations are working and in usable condition they are gladly accepted and put directly to use. Unfortunately, when they are not working, they find their way into landfill-type dumps. Most of the computers that are being sent as donations to Africa and other developing countries do not work and the dumps are oversaturated with the harmful materials found in our daily electronic usage.
In the United States it is comparatively easy to find someplace to recycle your old appliances. Instead of donating your broken or very out-of-date computer, please recycle it. If the computer only is slightly broken or out of date, consider donating it to Goodwill, which will refurbish it and sell it on Ebay or in one of their stores. Help reduce the amount of our waste being sent overseas by making the extra effort to recycle what truly will not be a welcome donation.
