E-waste piles up in Ghana, despite international controls

The column of dark smoke that rises from the Ghanaian capital, Accra, can be seen from kilometers away and the closer it gets, the more it stinks.

Part of the stench comes from burning the plastic that encases copper wiring. Razat, 10, is one of the boys burning the plastic in Agbogbloshie, a suburb of Accra.

"We buy the cable and then burn away the plastic," he said. "That's the way we can make some money."

On a good day, Razat makes up to 10 Cedi - about five euros ($6) from the copper. It's more than the average income in Ghana, and helps Razat support his family. But it's ruining his health. The soil in Agbogbloshie is contaminated with heavy metals and the smoke from burning plastic is poisonous.

A global problem

"When the smoke gets into your nose you get sick, your eyes and nose hurt," said 16-year-old Kwesi, who was tending a fire near Razat. "But if we don't do it, we can't buy anything to eat."

Burning cables is just a small part of the worldwide problem posed by discarded electronic devices.

Every year some 40 million tons of electronic waste is produced, according to the United Nations Environment Program.

Developing nations are often happy to accept the electronic scrap, which includes mobile phones, televisions and refrigerators.

People will either repair the products or resell the materials they can reclaim. Anything leftover is usually disposed of in ways that would be illegal in industrialized nations.

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Are you starting a home remodel? One way to beat the high price of a remodel is by recycling all your unwanted building material and debris for cash.

Aside from sheet rock, particle board, insulation, and some other odds & ends, almost everything found in the construction of a home can be recycled. Some items such as clean, but old carpet can be donated to second hand building material stores for repurposing. Vintage items such as old floor tiles, old cabinets, bricks, wood flooring, doorknobs & hinges, heat grates, fireplace mantels, and light fixtures can be sold for cash at a yard sale or on Craigs List.

There's also quite a few building material components that can be sold to recycling centers for cash. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Carpet pad . While your carpet can't be recycled for cash, the composition carpet pads beneath the carpet is highly recyclable. Composition pads are the ones with a mosaic pattern as opposed to a solid color yellow pad.

Cast iron tubs, sinks, and pipes . In some locations, cast iron plumbing fixtures can also be recycled for cash. If the fixtures are in excellent condition, you might earn more cash selling them at a yard sale instead of recycling them.

Aluminum siding . Clean, rust free aluminum siding is highly marketable and sells for top dollar at recycling centers. Since aluminum siding is worth more per pound than the aluminum trim pieces, soffits, and other siding components, it's best to separate them out from the smaller pieces so as to earn top dollar. Unsorted aluminum siding scrap means you'll earn less money.

Brass plumbing fixtures . Older homes often had brass drains and drain pipes which can be quite are valuable. These are definitely worth separating out and sending out for recycling.

Copper wiring and plumbing . Recycled copper is worth about 90% of its original cost. Copper can be found in electrical wires, tubing, conduits, beneath shower pans, as stove hoods, and other decorative architectural elements.

Stainless steel . Stainless steel sinks, old appliances, faucets, and pipes can also be recycled for cash. Stainless pays out a different rates depending on the thickness of the material; before hauling a huge load of stainless to the recycling center, call ahead to learn how the steel recyclables should be separated to earn the best price.

Extractive metallurgy of copper

Advances in environmental geotechnics, proceedings of the International Symposium on Geoenvironmental Engineering in Hangzhou, China, September 8 - 10, 2009

Copper, its trade, manufacture, use, and environmental status

Toward a new Iron Age?, quantitative modeling of resource exhaustion

Monograph on copper, with supplement