Britain is playing its part in fuelling the trade in obsolete electronic products that are dumped in Ghana. PC’s that had originally been used in MOD offices had been sold to a UK company to be allegedly re-used but somehow found their way to the waste site.

These old computers, keyboards and monitors are termed ‘e-waste’ and are part of a huge market that sees over 50 million tonnes a year dumped mostly in Ghana and Nigeria.

There are no regulations or health controls in place and children as young as five pick through the waste extracting metal that they get paid 28 pence per kilo for. In the process they are subject to dangerous chemicals that affect their health and often end up in fights over more valuable objects.