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https://apnews.com/article/electronic-waste-vietnam-recycling-workers-ewaste-fd437a066a967a3c8d2c8611a628c944>
"HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) — Dam Chan Nguyen saves dead and dying
computers.
When he first started working two decades ago in Nhat Tao market, Ho Chi Minh
City’s biggest informal recycling market, he usually salvaged computers with
bulky monitors and heavy processors. Now he works mostly with laptops and the
occasional MacBook.
But the central tenet of his work hasn’t changed: Nothing goes to waste. What
can be fixed is fixed. What can be salvaged gets re-used elsewhere. What’s left
is sold as scrap.
“We utilize everything possible,” he said.
The shop he works at is one of many in a market that spreads across several
streets filled with haggling customers. Most repair shops are a single room
crammed with junked electronic devices or e-waste with tables placed outside.
Workers, many of them migrants from across Vietnam, repair or salvage items
like laptops, scarred mobile phones, camera lenses, television remotes, even
entire air conditioning units. Other shops sell brand-new electronics alongside
old, refurbished items.
The bustle is emblematic of a world that is producing more e-waste than ever —
62 million metric tons in 2022, projected to grow to 82 million metric tons by
2030, according to a report by the United Nation’s International
Telecommunications Union and research arm UNITAR. Asian countries generate
almost half of it."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
