Workshop: E-waste Global Trade
Venue: Shanghai Expo 2010, Hong Kong Heritage Museum 2011
Program: Hong Kong Pavilion’s “Creative Ecologies - Business, Living, Creativity", a 6-month program organized by the Hong Kong Design Centre.
It seems that everything in our modern lifestyle is possible at the click of a button – it is hard to imagine a life without the conveniences of household appliances, mobile phones and personal computers. Yet, these wonderful, perfectly packaged machines that make our lives more enjoyable, inspiring and entertaining eventually end up in landfills. These technologies present a unique challenge to recycling and hazardous waste disposal. Join us in learning about e-waste and make your very own e-waste Superhero!
This workshop included a lecture that examined the world trade in electronic waste through: an overview of product and material origins and lifecycles, concepts such as planned obsolescence, documentary content and concluded by giving e-waste a second life as Superheroes!
Participants received booklets that included further reading featuring regional and foreign content such as the 2009 documentary ‘Heavy Metal’ by Jin Huaqing, Edward Burtynsky’s 2006 documentary ‘Manufactured Landscapes’, and links to the work of organizations such as the “Champions of environmental health and justice group” Basel Action Network (BAN).
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Images: e-waste recycling in Guiyu (China), map of possible routes of world trade in electronic waste, Nokia product evolution timeline, Ghana’s largest waste dump Agbogbloshie, posters from Shanghai Expo and Hong Kong Heritage Museum programme, participants in Shanghai, covers from recommended materials for additional research.