Forget meta-narratives about globalization: the fact is that gadgets, being technological ephemera of the most temporary and mass-produced order, tend to end up floating around other people's backyards. And what a backyard we see in Foreign Policy's gallery of Asia's digital dumping grounds.
The dark side is the heavy metals and generally dangerous nature of the waste. The silver lining is in the ingenuity with which the locals scavenge and recycle: a ton of computer scrap contains more gold than 17 tons of mined ore. When I was a kid, my father and I would occasionally check out the alleyway where 8-liner and arcade game PCBs were discarded by a nearby pub. We didn't really know what to do with them at the time, but I have a feeling if I'd kept that Defender board until now, I'd have found a use for it.
Inside the Digital Dump [FP via BoingBoing]
