The French Institute of Estonia organises a screening of the documentary “The e-Waste Tragedy” (2014, 86 minutes), by the Franco-German director Cosima Dannoritzer. A journey to the heart of the illegal traffic of electronic waste around the world.
When?
Nov. 3rd, at 6 p.m.
Where?
Cinema Sõprus.
As part of the Digital November, dedicated in 2021 to a Greener Digital, the French Institute is organising this screening around the challenges of recycling our digital waste, through a journey into “the e-waste tragedy”.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Vincent Courboulay, Green IT expert, founder and CEO in France of the Institut du Numérique Responsable (INR).
Synopsis:
Every year, up to 50 million tons of electronic waste – computers, television sets, mobile phones, household appliances – are discarded in the developed world. 75% of this waste disappears from the legal recycling circuits, with much of it being shipped illegally to India, China or Africa. Illegal recycling and waste dumping is a multi-million dollar business, polluting the environment and destroying the lives and health of those forced to live with it.
This film takes the viewer on a breathtaking journey of investigation to Europe, China, Africa and the US. It reveals how the European recycling system, plagued by lack of controls, greed and corruption, leaks like a sieve to shady international exporters; how harbour officials in Europe and Asia are fighting a losing battle against the immense volume of e-waste crossing the oceans; why the US are the biggest exporter in the world; and how whole cities in China are literally drowning in our discarded appliances, where they are recycled with a total disregard for the environment or the future.
As a result, recycled and damaged computer chips are creeping into the production lines of electronics that control key aspects of our lives, such as public transport, creating a huge security risk in the process. Can the toxic tide be stemmed, or are too many people willingly turning a blind eye?