My quest following the e-waste trail began by accident while in Uummannaq, Greenland, in November 2010, standing on cliffs overlooking icebergs. I could see the results of our modern-day throw-away society: discarded junk, computers, dishwashers, washing machines, televisions, stereos, office supplies, toilets, trucks and cars - junk, past and present colliding into the future. The waste had come from the former Soviet Union, Western and Eastern Europe, and Asia; big cargo ships were bringing it and dumping it at the land’s end in Greenland. The world was poisoning Greenland. The waste was from some of the biggest polluters in the world. The question I asked was simple: had society in its mad drive in the so-called interest of modernization, been polluting the Earth with no care for the future and for generations who will inherit the Earth? We have a “Let’s live for today” attitude, get rich and grow fat, being comfortable and losing the moral compass; and in the process we are destroying the world.

That very cold day in Greenland, watching icebergs melt because of global warming, I began to wonder how many devices and appliances my friends and others had acquired over their lifetime? How many computers? How many cell phones? How many TV sets? How many iPods?

After some research, I discovered that according to estimates there were more than one billion computer users in the world, and more than 4.6 billion cell phone users. The average life span of a computer is three to five years, and for an iPhone, it is only two years. As technology moves ahead in leaps and bounds, older versions of electronic equipment become obsolete and are replaced. Less than one year after the overwhelmingly successful launch of the iPad, a new version came out, and within one month, thirty million iPad 2 units had been sold. With such demand, it is no surprise that we generate 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste every year.

The quantity of e-waste is staggering; it has wreaked ecological havoc and destroyed millions of families whose work is to recover whatever can be salvaged - at great risk to their health and life. Following the e-waste trail began as a question, but over time the inquiry became a photographic documentary journey covering three continents and 60 228 kilometers, tracking the afterlife of electronic trash. At the same time, corporations and governments continue to make irresponsible yet lucrative deals, causing enormous damage to the world’s most vulnerable citizens.

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E-waste contains toxic agents such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), copper, lead, zinc, gold, iron, thallium and mercury. Lead, which is found in computer monitors and television sets, has a poisonous effect on the central nervous system, gradually attacking the brain, and highly toxic levels can cause paralysis. Cadmium, a major component in certain batteries and circuit boards, causes cancer; mercury affects the brain and central nervous system; and PCB is a dioxin associated with birth defects. In electronic waste graveyards, the land, air and water have reached unprecedented levels of toxic pollution. Skin ulcers have been reported in children swimming in nearby rivers and streams; and dioxins, some of the most toxic chemicals known to science, have been found in breast milk.

The crisis is here, now, and is daunting. Problems often seen in developing countries, such as waste disposal, poverty and violence, are being made even worse by the problem of e-waste. For me, personally, the sad reality is that the more “civilized” we become, the more barbaric is our behavior towards our fellow humans.

Stanley Greene

The project has been carried out with the support of Geo France and a Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography.

Stanley Greene

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