Turning waste into gold: Accumulation by disposal and the political economy of e-waste urban mining

The growth in the use of cheap electronics contributes to the exponential growth of electronic waste and dumping sites. Of these sites, Ghana is recognized among international organizations like the United Nations as the fastest growing electronic waste site in the world. Ghana, however, is simultaneously perceived as a regional economic power and a stable democracy relative to its neighbors. Along with the dumping of electronic waste, Ghana recently experienced the growth of mining gold from this waste. This dual experience, of e-waste dumping and of extraction of precious metals, has implications for the critical theory, 'accumulation by dispossession'.;Accumulation by dispossession addresses the acquisition of land and human capital through expropriation. Thus, the theory accentuates the reduction of costs of inputs to production. The political economy of electronic waste in Ghana suggests a removal of the ecological integrity of the land, as well as the loss of a healthy environment for those living in the region. The theory proposes that this "dispossession" results from the goal of keeping costs to production, and simultaneously waste management, low. Although the theory is used to analyze the production phase of commodities, it does not adequately address the economic relationships emerging during and after disposal. Central to this study will be the investigation of the Ghanaian case to inquire whether the dispossession of land in the form of toxicity continues to occur during and after the point of disposal. It also interrogates whether or not the extraction of viable metals from the dumped electronic goods, increasing toxicity, begins another cycle of reduction of environmental health from pollution generated during the production process.;This study interrogates the policies protecting these practices broadly defined as "recycling". The politics surrounding the growth of this form of waste dumping has several implications for how electronic manufacturers can continue to offer cheaper costs to the consumer despite the finite mineral resources available to produce such goods. This project will attempt to theorize a closed loop of production, consumption, and disposal by extending the aforementioned theory of accumulation by dispossession to develop a theory of waste that encompasses two processes of dispossession by disposal and accumulation by disposal.