The informal recycling market in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City showcases how e-waste is managed, with workers salvaging what they can to mitigate environmental harm.
E-waste is filling up landfills at an alarming rate, with Asian countries generating almost half of the 62 million metric tons produced globally in 2022.
Despite rising e-waste, proper recycling systems are scarce, leaving informal workers to collect waste, exposing them to health hazards.
Collaboration between informal and formal sectors is seen as a potential solution to improve efficiency and safety in e-waste management.
Key quote:
“We are currently generating e-waste at an unprecedented rate.”
— Garam Bel, e-waste officer at the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union
A growing group of laborers is trailing hurricanes and wildfires the way farmworkers follow crops, contracting for big disaster-recovery firms, and facing exploitation, injury, and death.
Despite a few high-profile conservation success stories – like the dramatic comeback of bald eagle populations in North America – birds of prey are in decline worldwide.
