The U.S. has yet to sign on to the Basel Convention, an international treaty that makes it illegal for rich countries to send hazardous waste to poorer countries unless the poorer country specifically consents. But even EU countries that have signed on still manage to get around the regulation and export e-waste anyway by changing how it's labeled. Most of the e-waste at the Ghana dump originally came from Europe.
Some say that the answer lies in helping countries like Ghana set up safer recycling facilities, rather than trying to stop exports of e-waste altogether, especially because old technology is valuable if it works and recycling is a source of jobs. "Instead of stopping the flow, we need to build the capacity to safely handle the waste," says Scott Cassel, CEO and founder of the Product Stewardship Council. "We need to be working with top officials to make sure what we're putting in place is working for everyone."
At the moment, it isn't working. "Right now, recycling facilities are being mismanaged, and putting people at risk, particularly young people," says Cassel.
Byer wanted her photos to tell the stories of some of those young people, like Fati, an 8-year-old girl who works in the Accra dump even though she has malaria.
"I don't think that anyone can envision this sort of prison of poison that children are working in to survive," Byer says. "We really need to become more conscious to how we are dumping our electronic waste.