A poetic film that traces electronic waste from the west to its toxic resting place in Africa.

Synopsis

In developing countries, the demand for second-hand electronic equipment is quickly growing, due to an increasing connection to the “global world”, and the inability to afford brand new products.

Every year, around 200,000 tonnes of second-hand and condemned electrical goods arrive in Ghana, West Africa, mainly received from the “developed” world.

Many of these electronics are nearing the end of their life, and will soon be discarded as e-waste. A significant volume of electronics actually arrive as e-waste, exported illegally as second hand goods.

The history of planned obsolescence is revealed in this entertaining and surprising doc.

Synopsis

Once upon a time..... products were made to last. Then, at the beginning of the 1920s, a group of businessmen were struck by the following insight: 'A product that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business' (1928). Thus Planned Obsolescence was born.

Shortly after, the first worldwide cartel was set up expressly to reduce the life span of the incandescent light bulb, a symbol for innovation and bright new ideas, and the first official victim of Planned Obsolescence. During the 1950s, with the birth of the consumer society, the concept took on a whole new meaning, as explained by flamboyant designer Brooks Stevens: 'Planned Obsolescence, the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary...'. The growth society flourished, everybody had everything, the waste was piling up (preferably far away in illegal dumps in the Third World) - until consumers started rebelling...