Designing Out E-Waste
from The Extra Seat Hosted by Stephan Hitchins
In this episode of The Extra Seat, we turn our attention to Agbogbloshie in Accra, Ghana, once one of the world’s most infamous e-waste sites, often called a “digital dumping ground.” Before its demolition in 2021, Agbogbloshie symbolised the global challenge of electronic waste: environmental dumping from industrialised nations, unsafe recycling practices, and the human cost of toxic work. We’ll explore how design thinking, as an innovation process, can help tackle this wicked problem by rethinking product lifecycles, encouraging circular economy models, and creating more sustainable systems for technology use and disposal. From companies like Fairphone, which design for repair and longevity, to community-based recycling initiatives, we’ll highlight examples of how empathy, creativity, and collaboration can move us toward solutions, not only for Ghana, but for a global e-waste crisis.
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