Valued waste/wasted value: e-waste recycling in Asia
ResearchPod
English - February 17, 2023 11:00 - 8 minutes - 5.99 MBScience Technology science research outreach education stem learning academic technology impact scicomm Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
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Electronic waste (e-waste) contains a range of materials, including precious metals, which could be salvaged for reusable components and continue to offer economic value.
Dr Aidan Marc Wong investigates the central role of informal labour, in particular the karung guni in Singapore and Malaysia, who collect, disassemble, sort, and transform recycling and e-waste into raw materials for reuse. Dr Wong discusses how such informal labourers can identify raw materials that contain unrealised value, and can give discarded items a new lease of economic life rather than letting them find their way to dump sites.
Read more about his research: https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12616