Guiyu, in Guangdong Province, receives more e-waste than any other site on earth. The recycling companies located there employ men, women, and even children to harvest the metals and valuable components of electronics so that they can be resold. In Guiyu, as in many e-waste hubs around Asia and Africa, workers work without masks or adequate skin protection in small, poorly ventilated workshops using acid to burn plastics and metals over open fires. Waste and ash is released into the air and dumped into local water systems or the ocean. Because of the lack of protection for the workers and the environment, Guiyu has become one of the most polluted places on Earth. According to a report from Shantou University, the air in the city has the world’s highest levels of carcinogenic dioxins, women are six times more likely to experience miscarriages there, and 70 percent of the city’s children have hazardous levels of lead in their blood.
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