Tweaking the design of electronic goods could reduce poverty. Here’s how

Nov 24, 2017

Children recover copper and other metals from discarded televisions and other electronic waste, which they exchange for money from nearby junkshops, along a road in Manila April 7, 2011. An e-waste recycling and reclamation company salvages gold and other precious metals like silver, copper and palladium from microprocessors of discarded electronic products like desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones and copying machines. About 4000 integrated circuits from discarded mobile phones can produce about 100 grams of gold. REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo (PHILIPPINES - Tags: SOCIETY EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT) - GM1E7480PWO01

In developing, waste electronics are often recycled by youths on dumpsites close to residential areas. Image: REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo

Richard Gower

Senior Associate, Economics and Policy, Tearfund

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Electronics is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Electronics

GPS Tracks for the US’ Electronic Waste Image: MIT Senseable City Lab, visualisation from the Basel Action Network’s E-Trash Transparency Project

Ghana’s Electronics Imports (2009) Image: Amoyaw-Osei Y, Agyekum O, Mueller E, Fasko R and Schluep M (2011) Ghana e-Waste country assessment. Secretariat of the Basel Convention.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.