Damage control: How repairability could help address the e-waste crisis

For years, the notorious Agbogbloshie dump in Accra, Ghana was one of the world’s most visible and unsettling reminders of the dark side of global consumerism: a vast and sprawling dumping ground for discarded electronics that toxified the soil and damaged the health of the many thousands of people scratching out a living there. 

In early 2021 the bulldozers moved in, clearing the site. But the relentless flow of discarded goods from the west continues, and whilst Agbogbloshie may now be closed for business, similar sites have sprung up along the Ghanaian coastline and indeed throughout the developing world: all of them damning, toxic indictments of a world drunk on a throwaway culture that plays fast and loose with resources and preys on our collective desire for new stuff.

And despite increasing numbers of manufacturers and engineers espousing and championing the principles of a circular economy - where waste is minimised and products are designed to be reused or recycled - it’s a trend that’s accelerating at a frightening rate.