Child Labour in Photos: Electronic Waste

Note: Images in this post are strictly for documentary and editorial purposes. Photography’s impact on society and culture is ubiquitous. Visual images have shaped public and foreign policy for centuries — creating an unrivaled role in transforming human societies in ways we cannot even imagine. Lewis Hine’s work inspired legislation that cut down the number […]

May 20, 2020

Muntaka Chasant

May 20, 2020

14 Min read time

Child labour in Ghana photo.

Note: Images in this post are strictly for documentary and editorial purposes.

Photography’s impact on society and culture is ubiquitous.

Visual images have shaped public and foreign policy for centuries — creating an unrivaled role in transforming human societies in ways we cannot even imagine.

Lewis Hine’s work¹ inspired legislation that cut down the number of children engaged in child labour in the United States at the dawn of the 20th century.

The Red Cross conducted one of its biggest relief operations since World War II in 1992 after James Natchway’s Famine in Somalia ² published.

Sam Nzima’s Soweto Uprising³ showed how the apartheid regime killed its citizens, forcing a strong international front against the then South Africa’s racist system.

Hazardous child labour, Accra, Ghana. Copyright © Muntaka Chasant

I have been documenting hazardous child labour at Agbogbloshie for some time now.

My hope is that this body of work will bring this situation to the forefront.

See the links below for details and more photographs.

Hazardous Child Labour Photos

Hazardous child labour in Africa: Left to right: Ankrah, 14 years, Osei, 15 years, and Mustafa, 13 years, are dismantling old CRT TVs with their bare hands and stones to recover the iron metals inside. This exposed them to heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. Approximately 31.5 million children in Africa are in child labour, the ILO statistics show. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Hazardous child labour in Africa: Left to right: Ankrah, 14, Osei, 15, and Mustafa, 13, are dismantling old CRT TVs with their bare hands and rocks to recover the iron metals inside. This exposed them to heavy metals, including lead and cadmium. Approximately 31.5 million children in Africa are in child labour, the ILO statistics show. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Informal disposal and recycling of end-of-life electronics (e-waste ) may be poisoning a generation of young people living on the margins of Accra, Ghana’s capital city.

Emmanuel Osei Yaw, 15 years old, Mustafa Zuberu, 13, and Bright Ankrah, 14, below are urban poor children engaged in hazardous work on the fringes of Agbogbloshie.

The photographs on this page are only a small window on their lives.

Child labour in Africa: Osei (right), 15 years old, is about to smash an old CRT TV against a rock to recover the iron materials inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Fourteen-year-old Ankrah in a lime green t-shirt with “I can do it!” on the front is waiting for his turn. More than 70 million children in Africa are estimated to be in child labour. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Child labour in Africa: Osei (right), 15, is about to smash an old CRT TV against a rock to recover the iron materials inside, Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Fourteen-year-old Ankrah in a lime green t-shirt waits for his turn. More than 70 million children in Africa are estimated to be in child labour. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

For food, clothes, and the expectation to contribute to their household economy, Osei and the other children use their bare hands to cannibalize from discarded e-waste and sift through the soil using fingers — to retrieve small pieces of metals — in an area renowned for its heavy metals pollution.

They are exposed to toxic materials, including lead, mercury, cadmium, and barium.

A study in 2013 found lead levels as high as 18,125 parts per million (ppm) in one of the soil samples collected from around Agbogbloshie.⁴ US EPA’s recommended safe limits for lead in bare soil in children’s play areas is 400 (parts per million) ppm and 1200 ppm for non-play areas.⁵

The Basel Action Network and the International Pollutants Elimination Network also found the highest levels of brominated and chlorinated dioxins ever measured in free-range chicken eggs in Agbogbloshie in a 2019 study⁶, fearing this may be contaminating Ghana’s food chain.

The children engaged in hazardous child labour in this post are part of thousands of people who toil in the toxic environment at Agbogbloshie every day trying to salvage usable materials from the waste stream.

Kristen Grant and other researchers in a 2013 study published in The Lancet Global Health⁷ examined — 23 epidemiological studies — the association between exposure to e-waste and health outcomes from 1965 to 2012 in southeast China. They found credible outcomes associated with exposure to e-waste including reduced lung function, changes in cellular expression and function, stillbirths, miscarriage, and evidence of greater DNA damage compared to a control group.

What is Going on in the Photographs?

Child labour: Emannuel Osei Yaw, 15 years old, is about to smash an old CRT TV against a rock to recover the iron-nickel materials inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Osei and the other children engaged in hazardous work at Agbogbloshie are frequently cut by a flying funnel and panel glass from old CRT TVs. They are also exposed to heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. Approximately 62% of all children in hazardous child labour worldwide are boys, according to ILO estimates. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Child labour: Emannuel Osei Yaw, 15, is about to smash an old CRT TV against a rock to recover the iron-nickel materials inside, Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Osei and the other children engaged in hazardous work at Agbogbloshie are frequently cut by a flying funnel and panel glass from old CRT TVs. They are also exposed to heavy metals, including lead and cadmium. Approximately 62% of all children in hazardous child labour worldwide are boys, according to ILO estimates. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

There’s no doubt that some e-waste is still making its way into Ghana, with some ending up at a place such as Agbogbloshie. But a significant chunk of the e-waste that ends up at Agbogbloshie is locally generated.

For me, where the e-waste is generated and where and how it is recycled is absolutely important. Not so much for where it was made. We can make the same argument for cars, leather shoes, and toothbrushes.

The Basel Convention allows for repair and reuse. A sizable number of the e-waste that makes their way into Ghana are repaired and reused. Not all Ghanaian households — with roughly around $2200 GDP per capita — can afford brand new LG or Samsung LED TVs.

There’s a large market for e-waste in Ghana. For instance, some of the end-of-life cathode-ray tube (CRT) TVs and computer monitors on this page had been in Ghana for decades. They had been used by local households and businesses and had added value to the local economy before being cannibalized at Agbogbloshie.

Itinerant collectors pay a small fee for them from households and repair shops throughout Ghana. The collectors sell their goods to scrap dealers inside the Agbogbloshie Scrapyard and other places.

For the old CRT TVs, the interior parts are “urban mined” for valuable components, including circuit boards and cables.

The lead-filled CRT funnel glasses part are then discarded on nearby e-waste dumpsites or left around for the children to pick up. These glasses are a waste for the scrap dealers. But for the urban poor children around Agbogbloshie, the iron materials inside are a source of instant cash.

These once symbols of high-quality engineering are smashed against rocks and repeatedly hit with stones for the shadow mask, aperture grille (Sony Trinitron), and other precious metals.

CRTs from old TVs and computer screens contain high levels of toxic materials, including lead⁸, barium, and cadmium (in the phosphors)⁹ ¹⁰, and are known to pose risks to human health and the environment.

CRT funnel glass contains around 22% of lead by weight¹¹ ¹². Their recycling is heavily regulated in many countries, including the US¹³, where several States prohibit their disposal in municipal waste landfills.¹⁴

How Children at Agbogbloshie Reclaim Iron Materials From Old CRT TVs

Worst Forms of child labour: 15-year-old Osei is about to smash an old CRT TV against a stone and other CRTs to recover iron materials at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. The metals are sold for around $0.15 per kilo as of May 2020. This worst form of child labour exposes Osei to lead and other toxic substances, including cadmium and barium. The Lead in CRT funnel glass is known to pose risks to human health and the environment. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Worst Forms of child labour: 15-year-old Osei is about to smash an old CRT TV against a rock and other CRTs to recover iron materials, Agbogbloshie, Ghana. The metals are sold for around $0.15 per kilo as of May 2020. This worst form of child labour exposes Osei to lead and other toxic substances, including cadmium and barium. The lead in CRT funnel glass is known to pose risks to human health and the environment. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

The photographs below show in series how smashing the CRT TVs against a rock could instantly reveal the iron materials inside.

Hazardous child labour and e-waste: Osei, 15 years old, is about to smash an old CRT TV against a rock to recover the shadow mask and other iron materials inside. CRT glass contains high levels of lead and other toxic substances. An estimated 73 million children worldwide between 5 and 17 years are in hazardous child labour. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Osei, 15 years old, is about to smash an old CRT TV against a rock to recover the shadow mask and other iron materials inside. CRT glass contains high levels of lead and other toxic substances. An estimated 73 million children worldwide between 5 and 17 years are in hazardous child labour. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Child labour and electronic waste: Agbogbloshie, Ghana — Osei, 15 years old, is smashing an old CRT TV against a rock to reclaim the shadow mask and other iron materials inside. Many children are involved in the informal recycling of e-waste at Agbogbloshie. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Hazardous child labour and e-waste: 15-year-old Emmanuel Osei had just smashed an old CRT TV against a rock to recover the iron materials inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — 15-year-old Emmanuel Osei had just smashed an old CRT TV against a rock to recover the iron materials inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Children working in a toxic environment: Osei, 15 years, and Mustafa, 13 years, are using stones to break apart old television sets to reclaim the iron materials inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Osei, 15 years, and Mustafa, 13, are using rocks to break apart old television sets to reclaim the iron materials inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

E-waste recycling at Agbogbloshie: An old CRT TV smashed against a stone to separate the panel and funnel glass from the iron materials inside. Primitive e-waste recycling techniques at Agbogblosie contaminates the soil, air, and groundwater, exposing Accra residents to serious health risks. Agbogbloshie is the largest open food market in Accra. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Moment of Impact: E-waste recycling at Agbogbloshie: An old CRT TV smashed against a rock to separate the panel and funnel glass from the iron materials inside. Primitive e-waste recycling techniques at Agbogblosie contaminates the soil, air, and groundwater, exposing Accra residents to serious health risks. Agbogbloshie is also the largest open food market in Accra. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

They hit the panel glass with rocks directly when smashing the CRT TV against a rock fails.

Child labour in Africa: A 15 years old boy at Agbogbloshie, Ghana, is using a stone to break apart an old CRT TV to recover the iron materials inside. Iron scrap sold for around $0.15 per kilo at Agbogbloshie in May 2020. About 31.5 million children in Africa are in hazardous child labour, according to ILO global estimates. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Child labour in Africa: A 15 years old boy at Agbogbloshie, Ghana, uses a rock to break apart an old CRT TV to recover the iron materials inside. Iron scrap sold for around $0.15 per kilo at Agbogbloshie in May 2020. About 31.5 million children in Africa are in hazardous child labour, according to ILO global estimates. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Then use different techniques to remove the rest of the glass:

E-waste recycling: Osei, 15 years old, shakes off panel glass from an old CRT TV part at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Old television sets are smashed against stones sometimes to separate the glasses from the iron metal components inside. They are then sold for around $0.15 per kilo (in May 2020) at Agbogbloshie. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — E-waste recycling: Osei, 15 years old, shakes off panel glass from an old CRT TV part at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Old television sets are smashed against rocks sometimes to separate the glasses from the iron metal components inside. They are then sold for around $0.15 per kilo (in May 2020) at Agbogbloshie. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

When a glass appears too tough, an experienced person steps in to help.

Child poverty in Ghana: 11-year-old Ibrahim is using a stone to break apart an old CRT TV to reclaim the precious metals inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Nearly 2 million children in Ghana aged 5 - 17 years are in child labour. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Child poverty in Ghana: 11-year-old Ibrahim uses a rock to break apart an old CRT TV to reclaim the precious metals inside, Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Nearly 2 million children in Ghana aged 5 – 17 years are in child labour. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Hazardous child labour: Osei, 15 years old, and Ibrahim, 11 years, are using stones to break apart an old CRT TV to reclaim the iron materials inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Around 14% of children in Ghana aged 5 - 17 years are engaged in hazardous work. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Hazardous child labour: Osei, 15, and Ibrahim, 11, use rocks to break apart an old CRT TV to reclaim the iron materials inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Around 14% of children in Ghana aged 5 – 17 years are engaged in hazardous work. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Child labour: Osei, 15 years old, had just helped Ibrahim, 11 years, to recover a shadow mask from an old CRT TV at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Iron scrap sold for around $0.15 per kilo at Agbogbloshie in May 2020. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Child labour: Osei helped Ibrahim recover a shadow mask from an old CRT TV at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Iron scrap sold for around $0.15 per kilo at Agbogbloshie in May 2020. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

11-year-old with an Old Computer Monitor

Agbogbloshie in May 2020: An emphasis on the daily life at Agbogbloshie — behind an 11-year-old boy engaged in hazardous child labour in the area. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Agbogbloshie, May 2020. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Ibrahim, 11 years old, here struggles with a tough glass.

E-waste miner: An 11-year-old Agbogbloshie e-waste miner is about to smash an old CRT computer monitor against a rock to reclaim the iron materials inside. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — An 11-year-old Agbogbloshie child labourer is about to smash an old CRT computer monitor against a rock to reclaim the iron materials inside. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Primitive e-waste recycling: Ibrahim, 11 years old, is about to smash an old computer desktop against a rock to recover the shadow mask and other iron materials inside at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Ibrahim is frequently cut by flying glass from CRT TVs and monitors. He is also exposed to hazardous substances such as lead and cadmium. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Ibrahim, 11 years old, is about to smash an old computer desktop against a rock to recover the shadow mask, Agbogbloshie, Ghana. Ibrahim is frequently cut by flying glass from CRT TVs and monitors. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

What Happens After all of this?

Child labour at Agbogbloshie: Osei, 15 years old, and Mustafa, 13 years, had spent more than an hour using bare hands and stones to reclaim shadow masks and other precious metals from old CRT TVs and computer monitors at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. They are now ready to weigh and sell. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Child labour at Agbogbloshie: Osei, 15 years old, and Mustafa, 13 years, had spent more than an hour using their bare hands and rocks to reclaim shadow masks and other precious metals from old CRT TVs and computer monitors at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. They are now ready to weigh and sell. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

It’s now time to weigh and sell.

Hazardous child labour: Osei, 15 years old, and Mustafa, 13 years, are getting ready to go and weigh and sell shadow masks and other iron materials recovered from old CRT TVs. The lead-filled CRT TVs were hit with rocks and against each other to remove the panel and funnel glass for the shadow mask and other precious metals. They were exposed to lead and other toxic materials. More than 31 million children in Africa are estimated to be in hazardous child labour. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Hazardous child labour: Osei, 15 years old, and Mustafa, 13 years, are getting ready to weigh and sell shadow masks and other iron materials recovered from old CRT TVs. The lead-filled CRT TVs were hit with rocks and against each other to separate the panel and funnel glass for the shadow mask and other metals. They were exposed to lead and other toxic materials. More than 31 million children in Africa are estimated to be in hazardous child labour. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

CRT TV Shadow Mask: 14-year-old Bright Ankrah with ‘I can do it’ on the front of his t-shirt had just recovered a shadow mask from an old CRT TV at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. He used his bare hands and stones to separate the panel and funnel glass from the precious metals inside the old television set. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — CRT TV Shadow Mask: 14-year-old Bright Ankrah had just recovered a shadow mask from an old CRT TV at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. He used his bare hands and rocks to separate the panel and funnel glass from the metals inside the old television set. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Child labour and e-waste: 11-yer-old Ibrahim had just reclaimed shadow masks from old CRT TVs at Agbogbloshie. He sold them at around $0.15 per kilo at Agbogbloshie. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Weighing and Selling

CRT TV Recycling: Recovered iron-nickel alloy materials from old CRT TVs being weighed for sale at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Scrap metal scale at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Child labour: Osei, 15 years old, and Mustafa, 13 years, engaged in hazardous child labour in Ghana smile and display how much they had earned for the morning. They had earlier used bare hands and stones to break apart old CRT TVs for the iron-nickel alloy materials inside. They sold the precious metals for around $0.15 per kilo at Agbogbloshie, earning them GH₵10 each (around $1.74). They were exposed to heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and barium. Around 152 million children worldwide are victims of child labour, with 73 million engaged in hazardous work, the ILO statistics show. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant — Child labour: Osei, 15 years old, and Mustafa, 13 years, engaged in hazardous child labour in Ghana smile and display how much they had earned for the morning. They had earlier used their bare hands and rocks to break apart old CRT TVs for the iron-nickel alloy materials inside. They sold the precious metals for around $0.15 per kilo at Agbogbloshie, earning them GH₵10 each (around $1.74). They were exposed to heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, and barium. Around 152 million children worldwide are victims of child labour, with 73 million engaged in hazardous work, the ILO statistics show. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant

Mustafa and Osei’s haul weighed 24 kg. Iron scrap sold at GH₵0.80 (around $0.15) per kilo in May 2020 at Agbogbloshie. Approximated, they made GH₵20 in total (around $3.45). Each took GH₵10 ($1.7) for the day’s work.

Yes, that’s all they got for the risk and exposure to lead and other heavy metals.

But Osei and Mustafa are happy. The $1.7 should get them some food and new sets of clothes for the day. They might even keep a change for their urban poor parents.

Here’s a puzzle for you:

The iron materials now begin their journey.

Where do you think they are headed?

The Place of Urban Poor Children in Society

We are all in a tussle, but the urban poor are more torn apart by the system.

Sequestered on the fringes, urban poor children face severe exclusion and misery. Not even basic services such as safe water, adequate sanitation, and health care reach them.

For me, the situation of the children in this post is not because of something that happened to them or their poor parents, but the consequence of the society in which they live.

Sources

May 20, 2020

14 Min read time

Comments (2):

Anna Hoas

May 24, 2020at 1:15 pm

Thank you so much for documenting this uncomfortable and largely ignored issue. 🙏🏾 The photos are powerful and the captions bring us so close to the reality of these children and young men.
I am running the social media for Take 10 Volunteer – at the moment we have had to suspend our solidarity work / volunteer programmes because of the corona situation) – but we still want to bring important social justice / human rights / climate justice topics to our followers. I would like to use some of your photos for our Instagram account on the World Day Against Child Labour which is on 12 June. You can see our account here: https://www.instagram.com/take10volunteer/
We will of course credit you and put a link to your article / website in our caption and on the linktree in the bio. What do you think?

Best,

Anna
Reply
George Rodgers

August 2, 2021at 8:34 am

a fascinating and important documentary of a sad problem, worldwide. I would like permission to uise a couple of your photos in a lecture I will be giving to a group of medical toxicologists in the US.
George Rodgers
Reply

Child Labour in Photos: Electronic Waste

Topics

Hazardous Child Labour Photos

What is Going on in the Photographs?

How Children at Agbogbloshie Reclaim Iron Materials From Old CRT TVs

11-year-old with an Old Computer Monitor

What Happens After all of this?

Weighing and Selling

The Place of Urban Poor Children in Society

Sources

Topics

MUNTAKA CHASANT

Sign Up for MUNTAKA.COM Newsletter

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Tokyo Street Photography

Anna Hoas

George Rodgers

Child Labour in Photos: Electronic Waste

Topics

Hazardous Child Labour Photos

What is Going on in the Photographs?

How Children at Agbogbloshie Reclaim Iron Materials From Old CRT TVs

11-year-old with an Old Computer Monitor

What Happens After all of this?

Weighing and Selling

The Place of Urban Poor Children in Society

Sources

Topics

MUNTAKA CHASANT

Sign Up for MUNTAKA.COM Newsletter

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